Real-World Data, Real-Time Decisions: AI at the Frontlines of Oncology
May 2nd 2025Ravi Parikh, MD, MPP, FACP, discusses how artificial intelligence is transforming oncology pharmacy by accelerating drug development, enhancing clinical decision-making, supporting value-based care, and raising critical questions about ethics, regulation, and data integrity.
Enhancing Patient Care Through Multidisciplinary Team Collaboration in Management of NSCLC
May 2nd 2025A panelist discusses how pharmacists contribute to multidisciplinary care for patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by providing comprehensive education, creating customized medication calendars, ensuring appropriate dose adjustments for individual patient factors, advocating for patients to balance efficacy with toxicity management, and helping patients navigate insurance systems to access expensive medications through assistance programs, particularly when transitioning from targeted therapies to more complex regimens.
Barriers to Bridging Clinical Trial Data to Routine Pharmacy Practice
May 2nd 2025A panelist discusses how implementing new clinical trial findings into practice involves multiple challenges including operationalizing treatment regimens in electronic medical records (EMR), procuring medications, obtaining formal approval through institutional committees, and, most significantly, securing insurance approval since insurers often update their formularies less frequently than FDA approvals occur, which can delay patient care.
Precision Oncology in Focus: ctDNA's Role in Colon Cancer Management
April 30th 2025Sasha Watson, PharmD, BCOP, discusses the emerging role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in colon cancer, highlighting its potential to enhance precision oncology by improving early detection, guiding adjuvant therapy decisions, and monitoring disease recurrence and treatment resistance.
Important Treatment Considerations With LDL-C– Lowering Therapies
April 28th 2025Panelists discuss how the initiation of statin therapy requires careful consideration of contraindications and patient-specific factors, particularly in those with liver disease, renal impairment, or advanced age, while noting evolving treatment patterns toward more intensive low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)–lowering therapies based on individualized risk assessment.
Weighing the Benefits and Risks of Statin Therapy
April 28th 2025Panelists discuss how statin therapy for primary prevention requires careful consideration of cardiovascular risk factors against potential adverse effects such as myalgia and liver abnormalities, generally favoring treatment when the calculated 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease [ASCVD] risk exceeds 7.5% to10% and adjusting recommendations based on individual patient factors including age, comorbidities, and preferences.
Integrating Clinical Trial Findings Into Everyday Pharmacy Practice
April 25th 2025A panelist discusses how combining therapies for EGFR-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) increases both benefits (improved progression-free survival, response rates, and duration of response) and adverse effects, emphasizing that treatment selection should consider patient-specific factors like central nervous system (CNS) metastases, performance status, treatment aggressiveness preferences, and real-world limitations where patients often differ from clinical trial populations in terms of organ dysfunction, concomitant medications, and previous treatments.
Recent Clinical Trial Highlights for NSCLC Treatment
April 25th 2025A panelist discusses how recent clinical trials for EGFR-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have expanded treatment options beyond single oral agents, with studies like FLAURA2, MARIPOSA, and PAPILLON demonstrating significant improvements in progression-free survival for combination therapies such as osimertinib plus chemotherapy and amivantamab plus lazertinib, though these combinations often come with higher rates of toxicity, discontinuation, and adverse effects compared to monotherapies.
AAN 2025: Pharmacists Play Critical Role in Monitoring, Managing Lecanemab Therapy
April 20th 2025Philip Kuball, MD, neurology resident at NYU Langone Health, highlights the integral role of pharmacists in monitoring patient eligibility, managing dosing schedules, and ensuring safe medication interactions for lecanemab treatment in Alzheimer disease.
First-Line Focus: Molecular Testing and Guideline-Directed Therapy in EGFR-Positive NSCLC
April 18th 2025A panelist discusses how waiting for molecular testing results before initiating treatment for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is crucial because patients with EGFR mutations can avoid chemotherapy and immunotherapy in favor of targeted oral agents like osimertinib, which offer survival benefits with minimal toxicity compared to traditional treatments, while premature immunotherapy could cause severe immune-related adverse events that might preclude later use of more appropriate targeted therapies.
Overcoming Challenges in NSCLC Management From a Pharmacist’s Perspective
April 18th 2025A panelist discusses how non–small cell lung cancer presents significant treatment challenges due to its prevalence, high mortality rate, poor 5-year survival outcomes, and the difficulty of managing patients with advanced disease who often have poor performance status and multiple metastases, emphasizing the importance of pharmacist involvement for proper dosing, growth factor support, and comprehensive patient education about chemotherapy.