GLG News by Physicians who Treat Malignant Melanoma (US)

The coverage restrictions placed on the FDA-approved indication have no scientific basis and are incompatible with good clinical practice," said Roger M. Perlmutter, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president of Global Research and Development at Amgen. "We are concerned that inappropriately limiting coverage...

Certainly, we've had a flurry of bad press over the last few years on blockbuster drugs that had unexpected consequences - Celebrex, ESAs (Epogen, Aranesp, etc...), and most recentlyl Avandia. Statins are some of the most widely used drugs in medicine in a multi-billion dollar industry.   ...

My understading id medicare need to cover all FDA indicated drugs. Here CMS violating FDA indication for Aranesp and procrit

Patients with hormone refractory prostate cancer have few options for treatment, and can be a challenge to manage.   Taxotere has shown an overall survival benefit in this patient population, however, when patients become refractory to this, there are no real viable options. Many companies...

Another example of the erosion of a physicians autonomy. While recent data has suggested some concerns with the use of ESA's in cancer patients, the risk of cardiovascular and thromboembolic events was associated with HgB>12. Certainly, in the past we were less cautios about the HgB. CMS has now...

Decrease use by 20-25% use of ESA. This may lead discounting and higher rebate from both amgen and orto-biotech to sustain market share. Since most of amgen contract with aranesp and neulasta use. It may effect use of neulasta. Next 6 month CMS may restrict use of Neulasta and neupogen for neutropenia...

Erbitux has been very successful in the colorectal cancer and head and neck trials.   The EGFR receptor is prevalent in many malignancies, and represents an obvious direction to expand the use of erbitux in other malignancies - ie lung cancer, esophagus, etc. As more indications for erbtitux...

Let's face it - the rural US is a relatively 'undesirable' (please don't get offended) location, with little access to a big city or collegiality with other physicians.   It also poses a challenge, as there are limited access to specialists.    I suspect it's not a dream job...

New small molecule inhibitor of androgen receptor - mechanism not completely known, but likely similar idea to other small molecule inhibitors in development for other receptors. Target population is hormone refractory prostate cancer, for which there is little viable therapy.   This is the...

Reimbursement has continued to either remain flat or decline in the setting of rising office overhead costs.   Medicaid, which covers those that are the poorest with the least access to care provides even worse reimbursement. In the setting of being able to run a practice effectively, Medicaid...