Trending News Today: Patients with Psoriasis May Be at Elevated Risk of Cancer

A recent meta-analysis showed that patients with psoriasis may be at an increased risk of cancer, The American Journal of Managed Care reported. According to the article, the analysis included 43 cohort studies involving 919,883 patients in 9 countries. Overall, patients with severe disease had a significantly elevated risk ratio (RR) of 1.22 for all cancer types and patients among all disease severities had a significantly elevated RR of 1.18, the article reported.

Many US patients with lymphoma are choosing experimental treatments over commercially available chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies sold by Gilead Sciences and Novartis AG, Reuters reported. According to the article, new data from health care consultancy Vizient showed that between the approval of the CAR T-cell therapy Kymriah (Novartis) in May 2017 and December 2018, 1 quarter of approximately 900 adult patients with lymphoma treated with CAR-T therapies were enrolled in clinical trials. Vizient also found that medical bills for patients in clinical trials were approximately 50% lower than costs for patients treated with Yescarta (Gilead) or Kymriah on a commercial basis, the article reported.

A new proposal released by the Trump administration aims to require hospitals to disclose to patients insurer-specific negotiated charges for all items and services, The Hill reported. According to the article, the goal of the proposed rule is to make it easier for patients to shop around for the best price. The proposal would impact more than 6000 hospitals across the country that accept Medicare, the article reported.