Trending News Today: Targeted Cancer Drug Entrectinib Priced Lower Than Rival Larotrectinib

Roche’s newly-approved tumor agnostic therapy entrectinib (Rozlytrek) has been priced at approximately $17,050 per month, Reuters reported. According to the article, entrectinib’s price comes in at nearly half of the monthly price of a rival drug, larotrectinib (Vitrakvi, Bayer AG and Eli Lilly), which costs $32,800 per month. Both drugs are approved to target tumors with NTRK fusions, but entrectinib is also indicated for the treatment of tumors with ROS1 fusions as well, the article noted.

A recent study showed that children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at greater risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, MD Magazine reported. According to the article, researchers examined the data of 6464 individuals with a childhood-onset IBD diagnosis from the Swedish national health care and population registers for all children under the age of 18 between 1973 and 2013. Overall, the results showed that IBD diagnosis was significantly associated with an increased risk of suicide attempts, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorders, the article reported.

Treatment with anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents may be associated with new-onset psoriasis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), The American Journal of Managed Care reported. According to the article, the study examined data from 14,525 patients with RA with no history of psoriasis, as well as 375 patients with both RA and psoriasis, up to October 2017. Overall, the crude incidence rate (IR) per 1000 patient years for incident psoriasis was 3.04 for anti-TNF treatment versus 0.65 for disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, the article reported.