R WE ready for reimbursement? A round up of developments in real-world evidence relating to health technology assessment: part 15

In this latest update we discuss real-world evidence (RWE) guidance from the leading oncology professional societies, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the European Society for Medical Oncology, and the PRINCIPLED practical guide on the design and analysis of causal RWE studies.

Advances in soft-tissue sarcoma - There are no mistakes, only lessons to learn!

Background:

In this decade the treatment of advanced sarcoma has seen many highs and lows in terms of successful trials and failed trials. This is possible due to great collaborations, newer therapies and histology focused trials.

Methods:

In ASCO 2019 many sarcoma trials were presented and we chose 3 challenging clinical trials that widen our perspective on soft tissue sarcoma. We have critically analyzed the data and have discussed the implications of these trials on current practice. First trial was ANNOUNCE trial which was done to confirm the efficacy of olaratumab after its dramatic success in advanced soft tissue sarcoma in a phase 2 trial. Another trial STRASS trial, which was unique because of being first successfully conducted randomized trial addressing preoperative radiotherapy in retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma. Third trial was phase 2 trial SARC 028 trial exploring the role of immunotherapy in pleomorphic undifferentiated sarcoma and liposarcoma subgroup.

Result:

ANNOUNCE trial failed to show OS benefit in olaratumab/doxorubicin arm as compared to doxorubicin/placebo arm. Based upon this FDA has revoked the approval of olaratumab leading to nihilism and disappointment amongst oncologists. In STRASS trial failed to meet the primary end point though there was a benefit in the liposarcoma subgroup in terms of abdominal recurrence free survival. There are several reasons that this trial might have failed. First, RPSs are not homogeneous population. RPSs might behave very differently as per the histopathology ranging from well differentiated LPS to leiomyosarcoma. Since the event rate in well-differentiated liposarcoma might happen late, the median follow-up of 43 months might not be sufficient. In SARC trial ORR in pleomorphic undifferentiated sarcoma (PUS) cohort was 9/40 (22.5%), while response rates in liposarcoma cohort were 4/39 (10.2%). There was poor correlation between the response and the tumor cells' PD-L1 positivity. Simultaneously, we must not take for granted the role of pembrolizumab in PUS as the previous study (PEMBROSARC) had also showed dismal outcomes with immunotherapy.

Conclusion:

In this paper we discuss the intricacies of these trials and how they affect the rapidly changing landscape in advanced soft tissue sarcoma.

Real transparency in medicine: Time to act

Current methods of recording and reporting financial conflicts of interest are flawed and often result in inaccurate and inconsistent reporting by well‐intentioned individuals. To that end, this editorial identifies a number of specific current challenges for conflict‐of‐interest reporting along with potential solutions.

[Immuno-, radio-, and chemotherapeutic studies in head and neck cancer : Highlights of the ASCO Annual Meeting 2017]

In recent years, immunotherapy has been shown to be a promising approach for the treatment of various tumor entities. Due to further pharmacological developments and new studies, the checkpoint inhibitors have now arrived in the clinic. To date, patients with cancers in the head and neck region have benefited from these agents as part of a palliative therapy. Current clinical trials are testing other indications for the checkpoint inhibitors as monotherapy or in combination with other therapeutic approaches. The following article summarizes the highlights of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

Role of Circulating Tumor DNA in Gastrointestinal Cancers: Update From Abstracts and Sessions at ASCO 2018

Background: The promising aspect of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is its rapid turnaround and non-invasive nature. According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and College of American Pathologists joint ctDNA review published in March 2018, there is not sufficient evidence to support the use of ctDNA in practice for GI cancers. However, there were numerous studies presented at ASCO Annual Meeting supporting its value. We aimed to summarize on its role in the management of gastrointestinal cancers based on the studies presented recently, and future directions. Methods: We limited our search to keywords "ctDNA," "circulating tumor DNA," "cell-free DNA (cfDNA)" and/or "liquid biopsy," at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting library abstracts and presentations. Results: There were 35 studies that revolved around ctDNA as a diagnostic tool, prognostic marker and/or a measure of tumor heterogeneity in gastrointestinal cancers. Depending on the assay used, the results of several studies showed that ctDNA was able to identify relevant mutations or fusions including RAS, HER2/Neu, BRAF, MET, BRCA2, APC, TP53, ALK, ROS1, PTEN, and NF1. The prognosis in terms of tumor mutation burden, objective response rate, metastasis and survival were also estimated by various studies based on ctDNA. The findings showed that higher baseline ctDNA levels and/or increased number of mutations detected in ctDNA were associated with poor survival and multi-site metastasis. Right-sided colon cancer was associated with higher number of mutations in ctDNA than left-sided colon and rectal cancers. Similarly, tubular adenocarcinoma subtype of gastric cancer was more likely to have higher ctDNA levels than signet-ring cell subtype. The feasibility of assessing response to therapy and residual metastatic disease by using ctDNA which was otherwise not detected on imaging was also presented. Conclusions: The studies presented at ASCO 2018 report on the many ways ctDNA is of value in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. Experts and discussants at the meeting argued that this may well indeed be ready for prime time for certain GI malignancies including colorectal cancers, especially in the metastatic setting. These findings alongside ongoing studies showing its feasibility into practice would likely lead to revision of the current guidelines for metastatic GI cancers.

Comparison Study of ASCO and TOAST Classification System in Chinese Minor Stroke Patients

BACKGROUND

Precise subtype classification based on underlying pathophysiology is important to prevent recurrent attack in minor stroke patients. A newly developed Atherosclerosis, Small vessel disease, Cardiac source, Others (ASCO) phenotypic classification system aims to characterize patients using different grades of evidence for stroke subtypes. However, this system has not been specifically applied to minor stroke population. In our study, the impact of using the newer ASCO criteria on minor stroke etiologies was investigated, and compared with that of Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) classification.

METHODS

Consecutive patients with minor ischemic stroke (NIHSS ≤3) were assessed and subtyped by the ASCO and TOAST systems. Stroke etiologies were presented and compared. The McNemar test and k statistic were used to analyze the difference and concordance between the 2 algorithms, respectively.

RESULTS

A total of 604 first-ever minor stroke patients were analyzed in the present study. Using TOAST classification, large artery atherosclerosis was the most frequent subtype (281, 46.5%), followed by small artery occlusion category (165, 27.3%). When ASCO was applied, 37 different profiles of stroke etiologies were identified. Using grade 1 of evidence, atherosclerosis (A1) was the most frequent subtype (308, 51.0%), followed by small vessel disease (S1, 178, 29.5%). Under consideration of grades 1 and 2, 239 (39.6%) patients were classified into more than 1 category. The ASCO system revealed determined etiologies in 104 of the 137 patients classified to cause undetermined subtype by TOAST classification. Good to very good accordance was observed between ASCO grade 1 and TOAST schemes across etiologic subtypes (κ = 0.719-0.832) except cause undetermined category (κ = 0.470).

CONCLUSION

Application of ASCO decreased the proportion of patients assigned to cause undermined category compared to TOAST system. Comprehensive characteristics of ASCO system might be helpful in the personalized therapy or secondary prevention for individual patients in the future.

Update on hepatocellular carcinoma from the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium (ASCO GI)

At the 2018 Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium, sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, significant advances in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were announced. In intermediate-stage disease (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B), interest in combining transarterial chemoembolization and sorafenib has been reignited as a consequence of the TACTICS trial. In advanced-stage disease (BCLC C), external-beam radiotherapy combined with transarterial chemoembolization proved to be superior to sorafenib in patients with portal vein thrombosis according to the START trial. Also, in patients with advanced-stage HCC, the CELESTIAL trial demonstrated survival benefits for patients undergoing treatment with cabozantinib in the second-line setting. Lastly, recent data on the activity of pembrolizumab in patients with HCC highlight the role of immunotherapy in the management of this disease in the years to come.

Clinical benefit of systemic treatment in patients with advanced pancreatic and gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumours according to ESMO-MCBS and ASCO framework

BACKGROUND

Assessment of clinical benefit of systemic treatments of rare diseases including gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NET) is challenging. Recently several tools have been developed to grade the clinical benefit of cancer drugs. The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has developed the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS). The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has developed and revised the ASCO framework consisting of the Net Health Benefit (NHB) score juxtaposed against the costs of the treatment. In this review, we graded systemic treatments for GEP-NET patients with both frameworks.

METHODS

The electronic databases (PubMed and EMBASE) were searched for papers reporting comparative trials, conducted in adult GEP-NET patients in the English language. Papers were assessed according to the ESMO-MCBS and the NHB part of the ASCO revised Framework (NHB-ASCO-F) by four independent assessors, and discrepancies were discussed.

RESULTS

The search yielded 32 trials of which 6 were eligible for grading with the ESMO-MCBS resulting in scores of 2 or 3. Eight trials were eligible for grading with the NHB-ASCO-F, resulting in scores between 37.6 and 57.4. Trials that were not primary assessable by the tools were analysed separately. Consensus between assessors was reached in 68% of trials with the ESMO-MCBS and in 23% of trials with the NHB-ASCO-F.

CONCLUSION

The currently used systemic treatments for GEP-NET patients had low scores according to the NHB-ASCO-F and none could be graded as meaningful clinical beneficial according to the ESMO-MCBS. Despite the low incidence, the heterogeneous patient population and relatively long natural course of NET, future studies on new treatment modalities should aim for high clinical benefit outcomes.

ASCO 2016 - update colorectal liver metastases

This short review summarizes the most relevant data on colorectal liver metastases (CLM) presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). For this update, congress abstracts were grouped into three clinically relevant scenarios: CLM that are deemed upfront resectable, borderline resectable, and primarily unresectable. According to a large registry study, small, upfront resectable, solitary CLM should be resected using a parenchymal sparing technique. A prospective noninterventional study suggested that chemotherapy plus the anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) antibody bevacizumab is effective and well tolerated in patients with borderline resectable CLM. In the setting of CLM deemed initially unresectable, a phase 2 study reported superior outcomes in terms of liver metastases resection rates as well as overall survival (OS) in patients receiving a chemotherapy triplet (FOLFIRINOX) plus a targeted agent as compared to FOLFIRI or FOLFOX4 with the same targeted therapy. Finally, a study suggested that tailoring first-line chemotherapy according to TYMS-3’UTR and ERCC1-118 polymorphism status results in higher response rates and longer progression-free survival (PFS) as well as OS.

Oncologist Support for Consolidated Payments for Cancer Care Management in the United States

BACKGROUND

The cost of cancer care in the United States continues to rise, with pressure on oncologists to provide high-quality, cost-effective care while maintaining the financial stability of their practice. Existing payment models do not typically reward care coordination or quality of care. In May 2014, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released a payment reform proposal (revised in May 2015) that includes a new payment structure for quality-of-care performance metrics.

OBJECTIVES

To assess US oncologists' perspectives on and support for ASCO's payment reform proposal, and to determine use of quality-of-care metrics, factors influencing their perception of value of new cancer drugs, the influence of cost on treatment decisions, and the perceptions of the reimbursement climate in the country.

METHODS

Physicians and medical directors specializing in oncology in the United States practicing for at least 2 years and managing at least 20 patients with cancer were randomly invited, from an online physician panel, to participate in an anonymous, cross-sectional, 15-minute online survey conducted between July and November 2014. The survey assessed physicians' level of support for the payment reform, use of quality-of-care metrics, factors influencing their perception of the value of a new cancer drug, the impact of cost on treatment decision-making, and their perceptions of the overall reimbursement climate. Descriptive statistics (chi-square tests and t-tests for discrete and continuous variables, respectively) were used to analyze the data. Logistic regression models were constructed to evaluate the main payment models described in the payment reform proposal.

RESULTS

Of the 231 physicians and medical directors who participated in this study, approximately 50% strongly or somewhat supported the proposed payment reform. Stronger support was seen among survey respondents who were male, who rated the overall reimbursement climate as excellent/good, who have a contract with a commercial payer that reimburses for dispensed oral cancer drugs, or who practice in a hospital setting. The use of at least 1 quality-of-care metric was more common among respondents participating in an accountable care organization (ACO) than among those not participating in an ACO (92.6% vs 83.2%, respectively; P = .0380). The most common metric used by the physicians in their practice setting was patient satisfaction scores (60.1%). Accountability for delivering high-quality care was supported by 74.9% of respondents; those who practice in a hospital setting were twice as likely as those in private practice to support accountability for quality of care (81.3% vs 67.6%; odds ratio, 2.1; P = .0176).

CONCLUSION

Support for ASCO's payment reform proposal is mixed among oncology physicians and medical directors, underscoring the importance of continuous and broader engagement of practicing physicians around the country via outreach and dialogue on topics that impact their clinical practices, as well as providing education or awareness activities by ASCO to its membership.

Update for ASCO 2015 sarcoma sessions

There were over 75 oral or poster presentations in last Spring's American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) sarcoma sessions. These presentations included investigations studying new medical therapy regimens for soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients with advanced disease, research studies on the relative value of aggressive local therapies for certain histologies of STS, and innovative investigations evaluating prognostic (and potentially therapeutic) implications of next generation sequencing of tumors and circulating tumor DNA. This paper serves to review select presentations from the sessions in the meeting.

Perspectives from the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2014 Conference: breast cancer highlights

50th annual American Society for Clinical Oncology Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA, 30 May–4 June 2014

The meeting included basic science and translational and clinical research in all specialties of hematology and oncology. From the multitude of abstracts presented, we will review the highlights regarding four abstracts discussing breast cancer.

Breast and gastrointestinal cancer updates from ASCO 2015

This review focuses on the updates presented at the ASCO 2015 symposium in breast and gastrointestinal malignancies. Some were practice changing while others gave us an exciting glimpse into what's to come in the very near future. Immunotherapy was the buzz word this year with data presented on every tumor site. Data on the efficacy of anti PD-1 agents in colorectal, hepatocellular and gastric cancer were presented. In breast cancer we saw data on a new and exciting therapeutic target in the form of androgen receptor among triple receptor negative breast tumors presented. Positive results of the PALOMA 3 trial were presented that has given women with hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer another therapeutic option. Furthermore data on strategies to further improve anti her2 therapy, optimizing of chemotherapy in the early and advanced stage and various strategies to improve endocrine therapy among patients with breast cancer were presented.

Sensitivity and resistance to treatment in the primary management of epithelial ovarian cancer

Ovarian carcinoma is the most lethal gynaecologic malignancy. Despite wide initial sensibility to chemotherapy especially to platinum-based regimens, the vast majority of patients with advanced stages of the disease develop recurrences and subsequent resistance to treatments. Ovarian cancer is actually considered as a heterogeneous disease at the clinical, histological and molecular level. In this review, the mechanisms of intrinsic sensitivity or resistance to treatment, especially to platinum-based chemotherapy are considered with particular reference to the significance of tumour heterogeneity. The molecular features involved in acquired resistance are reviewed and the current hypotheses are discussed. In particular, potential disruptions of the DNA reparation pathways are highlighted.

A systematic review of trastuzumab and lapatinib in the treatment of women with brain metastases from HER2-positive breast cancer

Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer are living still longer and increasingly experiencing brain metastases. Current HER2-targeted therapies have limited potential to cross the blood-brain-barrier. We performed a systematic review to investigate data on HER2-targeting therapies in the treatment of brain metastases in breast cancer. We searched PUBMED for all human studies published 1998-2012 using the following search terms: breast neoplasm/cancer, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/HER2, ErbB2, trastuzumab, lapatinib, brain/cerebral neoplasm/metastases and blood-brain barrier. We identified few and mostly small clinical studies. Study designs were very heterogeneous making comparisons on endpoints difficult. Overall survival for patients treated with trastuzumab varied from 8 to 25 months and 5.5 to 11 months for patients receiving lapatinib. The majority of studies were retrospective thus possibly biasing data. Only three studies were identified comparing trastuzumab to lapatinib. Conclusively, no solid data exist on how to treat patients with HER2-positive disease and brain metastases. Although continuous HER2-blockade is recommended by international consensus guidelines, it is still not evident which HER2-targeting agent should be preferred when brain metastases occur. The choice of chemotherapy to accompany the blockade is not obvious and we do not know if dual is better than single blockade. Further clinical trials are urgently needed.

The risk of rash associated with ipilimumab in patients with cancer: a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Ipilimumab is a human antibody that inhibits cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4, leading to increases in T-cell activation and interleukin 2 secretion and has been approved for the treatment of advanced melanoma. Dermatologic adverse events such as rash, pruritus, and vitiligo have been reported in trials, with varying incidences. The overall incidence and risk of rash to ipilimumab is unknown.

OBJECTIVE

We conducted a systematic review of the literature and performed a meta-analysis to ascertain the incidence and risk of developing rash among patients receiving ipilimumab.

METHODS

Databases from PubMed and Web of Science from January 1998 until July 2011 and abstracts presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meetings from 2004 through 2011 were searched to identify relevant studies. The incidence and relative risk of rash were calculated using random effects or fixed effects model depending on the heterogeneity of included studies.

RESULTS

A total of 1208 patients from clinical trials were included in this analysis. The overall incidence of all-grade rash was 24.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 21.4%-27.6%), with a relative risk of 4.00 (95% CI 2.63-6.08, P < .001). The overall incidence of high-grade rash was 2.4% (95% CI 1.1%-5.1%), with a relative risk of 3.31 (95% CI 0.70-15.76, P = .13).

LIMITATIONS

The ability to detect rash may vary among institutions.

CONCLUSION

There is a significant risk of developing rash in patients with cancer receiving ipilimumab. There was no statistically significant difference in the risk of rash based on dose or underlying tumor. Adequate monitoring and early intervention are recommended to prevent decreased quality of life and inconsistent dosing.