At Aptitude Health, we strive to understand patterns of care that affect cancer patients not enrolled in clinical trials. We identify factors influencing prescribing habits that shape best practices and essentially get to the why.
CASES Summits are regional events where approximately 60 oncologists and hematologists from large community practices along with leading scientific experts gather to discuss data on distinct clinical care patterns and market issues that drive treatment decisions. Insight reports are then developed to reflect these discussions that yield a wealth of information about community practices.
Las Vegas CASES Summit Highlights
In March 2019, our summit uncovered key takeaways from participants, including:
- No consensus as to whether imatinib or second-generation Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) should be used in frontline PH+ Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
- Little experience in the community on how and when to use monoclonal antibodies in ALL.
- Genomic testing is commonly performed in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
- Prolonged turn-around time for genomic testing remains a barrier to adopting newer therapies.
- Imatinib is the most commonly prescribed first line therapy in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.
- RVd is the preferred front-line therapy for multiple myeloma regardless of transplant eligibility.
Atlanta CASES Summit Highlights
At Aptitude Health’s last summit, oncologists gathered to provide insights about a variety of timely and challenging topics of relevance to clinical practice. Below are glimpses from some of the simultaneous sessions that took place on May 1st and 2nd.
- The majority of community advisors prefer to refer their ALL patients to a specialty center for treatment.
- Hyper-CVAD, with the addition of a TKI for Ph+ disease, is the preferred induction therapy when advisors do keep and treat these patients. Familiarity and comfort with this regimen drives treatment choice.
- Venetoclax plus HMA has become a standard treatment for unfit AML patients, regardless of age.
- Usage of liposomal cytarabine/daunorubicin is currently low among this group of community oncologists, however, after discussions many were more willing to try this therapy in their treatment-related AML patients.
- Advisors prefer a CDK4/6 inhibitor plus letrozole for first-line therapy when treating HR+/HER2– metastatic breast cancer. The majority selects palbociclib over ribociclib or abemaciclib
Before making treatment decisions, most advisors now routinely perform PD-L1 and gene BRCA testing in triple-negative breast cancer. - The majority of advisors generally use imatinib to treat their standard-risk CML patients, and second-generation TKIs to treat their high-risk CML patients.
- Advisors agreed that there are limited treatment options for refractory multiple myeloma patients, but they were impressed with selinexor’s unique mechanism of action (MOA) and phase II, STORM trial efficacy data. They would consider using this drug if approved.
- Genomic testing is commonly performed in acute myeloid leukemia.
Aptitude Health seeks no funding for CASES summits, but insights reports and silent observation rights are available for purchase. Each report provides key takeaways in aggregate, and analysis of the event-specific discussion and integrated polling. Additionally, the reports provide an overview of the current disease landscape, as described by the consulting physicians. Lastly, CASES Summits provide multiple opportunities for social networking with all event participants. To get more details about our upcoming CASES Summits, contact us.