Medicare keeping limits on anemia drugs
Doctor groups have criticized CMS for refusing to reverse a decision that cuts the reimbursement rates of two popular anemia drugs. In a letter sent this week to physicians and cancer specialists, CMS said it would not back down from its late July decision to cut reimbursements for Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa, Amgen) and Procrit (epoetin alfa, Ortho Biotech). The drugs, often referred to as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs), are given to cancer patients to boost hemoglobin levels and combat anemia. CMS ruled in July that it would provide reimbursements only to patients whose hemoglobin levels fall below 10gm/dl.
Targeted Drug Combination Reveals New Activity in Brain Tumors
December 28th 2021A combination of two targeted cancer drugs showed unprecedented, “clinically meaningful” activity in patients with highly malignant brain tumors that carried a rare genetic mutation, according to a clinical trial report by investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.