Amy J. Davidoff, PhD, on Racial Disparities in Time to Cancer Treatment: The Effect of Medicaid Expansion
2019 ASCO Annual Meeting
Amy J. Davidoff, PhD, of Yale University School of Public Health, discusses study findings on how expanding access to Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reduced racial disparities among patients with advanced cancer. Before the ACA was implemented in 2014, black patients with cancer were less likely than white patients to receive timely treatment, but in states that did not adopt Medicaid expansion, racial disparities persist (Abstract LBA1).
Paul G. Richardson, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses findings from the phase III ICARIA-MM trial showing that isatuximab, pomalidomide, and low-dose dexamethasone significantly improved progression-free survival and overall response vs pomalidomide and dexamethasone (Abstract 8004).
Richard L. Schilsky, MD, of ASCO, and R. Donald Harvey, PharmD, BCOP, of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discuss their study findings that expanding the clinical trial eligibility criteria for patients with advanced NSCLC would enable nearly twice as many people to be considered for participation (Abstract LBA108).
Kamal Chamoun, MD, of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, discusses how better insurance coverage determines not only the ability of patients with multiple myeloma to afford high-priced oral medications, but their survival of the disease (Abstract LBA107).
Jame Abraham, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, provides commentary on the NALA study findings on neratinib plus capecitabine vs lapatinib plus capecitabine in patients previously treated with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (Abstract 1002).
Thomas J. George, MD, of NRG Oncology and The University of Florida Health Cancer Center, discusses the initial phase II results from a clinical trial using total neoadjuvant therapy (including veliparib and chemoradiation treatment) for locally advanced rectal cancer (Abstract 3505).
