Since the campaign trail prior to the presidential election, Donald Trump has been drawing focus to the issue of high drug prices in the United States. In an effort combat the pricing issues, Trump appointed U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, who recently announced the creation of the “drug competition action plan.” The plan would reduce the high cost of drugs in U.S. healthcare market by increasing the efficiency of approving generic medications of name-brand drugs.

Older adults with cancer can have limited functional and health status; however, occupational (OT) and physical therapy (PT) are underused resources of care in this patient population. Researchers evaluated an outpatient CAncer REhabilitation (CARE) intervention program for this older adults in comparison to usual care. The study’s findings were presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

Optimal timing for the initiation of specialist palliative care has not been determined. In a study, researchers created a supportive oncology inpatient service that integrates up-front palliative care consultation for certain patients with advanced cancer and compared it to those receiving usual oncologic care with on-demand palliative care consultation. The study’s findings were presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

The Living With Cancer (LWC) patient-reported outcome (PRO) tool evaluates distress in patients with advanced cancer using a seven-item Likert survey to measure performance status, pain, burden (financial and family), and depression, with scores ranging from 0–112.

Women with high-risk endometrial cancer (EC) are at an increased risk of metastasis and death. The randomized, intergroup PORTEC-3 study assessed the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy during and after radiotherapy (RT) versus pelvic RT alone in this patient population. The researchers presented the study at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) has guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer survivors that focus on healthy body weight, physical activity, and a diet high in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. To assess how adherence to those guidelines impacts disease-free survival (DFS), relapse-free survival (RFS), or overall survival (OS), researchers conducted a prospective study of 992 patients with stage III colon cancer who enrolled in an adjuvant chemotherapy clinical trial between 1991 and 2001. The researchers presented the study at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

Patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed (PSR) serous ovarian cancer (SOC) have poor survival outcomes, with the median progression-free survival (PFS) after chemotherapy less than six months in many patients.

Hospitalization following hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) can lead to significant psychologic distress for patients. Researchers assessed the impact of an inpatient palliative care intervention on patient reported quality-of-life (QOL), mood, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) six months post-HCT. The researchers presented the study at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

The multicenter, phase II SAR028 clinical trial was the first to study pembrolizumab monotherapy in patients with soft tissue sarcoma or bone sarcoma to assess the clinical efficacy signals in multiple histologies. The researchers presented extended follow-up data at the ASCO Annual Meeting.

Immunotherapy is one of the fastest-evolving areas of oncology to date. Previously, it could take years for some cancers to see new treatment options; today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is approving new immuno-oncology agents or new indications for those agents every few weeks. It’s a boon and a challenge to medical professionals. On the one hand, potentially life-changing treatments are making way to patients who need them—patients who have exhausted first-line treatments and now have limited options.