Evidence-Based Oncology imparts Biomarkers and CAR T-cell Coverage

Therapy combinations, Biomarkers and the challenge of prayer coverage for CAR T-cell therapy are the topics selected for this year’s special tissue on immuno-oncology in  Evidence-Based Oncology.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved two chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, and this new issue features a discussion with an official from The University of Chicago Medicine, who said that both the cost and the highly personalized features of the therapies demand the full attention of senior leaders at the institution, since they cost $373,000 and $475,000.

Dr. Jeffrey Weber of NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center said the prospect of triple therapy combinations will easily rival CAR T-cell therapy for cost. For this reason, he said, biomarkers are a key area of research, as are immune-related adverse events. Dr. Hope Rugo of UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center weighs in on a discussion of a biosimilar for trastuzumab, which saw a price increase in several Humana Medicare plans earlier this year. Rugo was candid in her assessment that the payer was laying the groundwork to move patients to the biosimilar when it becomes available.