Oncology Practice Insider

On December 14, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved romiplostim (NPLATE®, Amgen Inc.) for pediatric patients 1 year of age and older with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) for at least 6 months who have had an insufficient response to corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, or splenectomy. Read more.

A recording of the December 5thMedicare Physician Fee Schedule webinar has been posted on the Medicare Program page on ASCO Practice Central.

The Physician Compare 30-day preview period is now open. You can preview your 2017 Quality Payment Program performance information before it will appear on Physician Compare profile pages and in the Downloadable Database. You can access the secured preview through the Quality Payment Program website. The 30-day preview period will close on December 31, 2018 at 8 PM EST (5 PM PST).  Check out the resources below on how to preview your data:

CMS recently posted new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) resources to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) Resource Library:  

On December 6, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved atezolizumab (TECENTRIQ®, Genentech, Inc.), in combination with bevacizumab, paclitaxel, and carboplatin for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer (NSq NSCLC) with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations. Read more. 

On December 3, ASCO published the Initial Diagnostic Work-Up of Acute Leukemia Guideline Endorsement. The guideline provides novel insights into molecular diagnosis and potential markers for risk stratification and target therapy.

In the latest ASCO in Action Podcast, Dr. Beverly Moy joined ASCO CEO Dr. Clifford A. Hudis to discuss financial barriers to patient participation in clinical trials—and solutions to address this problem. Dr. Moy stresses that improving trial participation in underserved groups is critical to discovering new cancer treatments that are effective in all populations. “No patient should be harmed financially because of their contributions to the advancement of science,” says Dr. Moy. “If we’re united in this belief, then we really can move forward together.”

ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research applauded the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) recent revision of its clinical trial protocol template to broaden eligibility criteria for cancer clinical trials.