Every week, the editors of Cancer Today magazine bring you the top news for cancer patients from around the internet. Stay up to date with the latest in cancer research and care by subscribing to our e-newsletter.

Patients Face Barriers to Some Blood Cancer Medications

People with blood cancer face substantial barriers to accessing specialty oral anticancer medications due to insurance hurdles and out-of-pocket costs, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Unlike intravenous therapies, which are typically covered under medical benefits, specialty oral anticancer medications, including some targeted therapies, are covered under pharmacy benefits that may require prior authorization or impose restrictions on which medications are covered, Healio reported. Researchers analyzed national claims data for 12,134 patients prescribed at least one new specialty oral medication for blood cancer in 2022—including leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. More than half of patients—61%—had Medicare, and the rest had commercial insurance. Insurers initially rejected 64.9% of Medicare prescriptions and 84% of commercial prescriptions, primarily due to prior authorization and formulary restrictions. By 90 days, 85% of prescriptions submitted through Medicare and 62.8% of those submitted through commercial insurance were approved. However, only about half of patients successfully received and filled their prescriptions. People were less likely to fill their prescription when out-of-pocket costs exceeded $175, regardless of insurance type. Among patients whose prescriptions were approved, fill rates were lowest for Medicare beneficiaries facing costs between $500 and $2,000, and commercially insured patients facing costs above $2,000. “Our findings raise the question of whether this process is really required, or whether it is unnecessarily creating administrative hurdles that impose avoidable work and treatment delays,” Jalpa A. Doshi, a study author and a health economist and pharmaceutical policy researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told Healio.

FDA Approves Immunotherapy for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the immunotherapy drug Jemperli (dostarlimab) for adults with stage II or III locally advanced rectal cancer that tests high for microsatellite instability or mismatch repair deficiency. This group represents roughly 3% of people with locally advanced rectal cancer, MedPage Today reported. Treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer has typically included chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. The approval was supported by findings from a phase II clinical trial, which evaluated 154 patients with previously untreated, microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair-deficient locally advanced rectal cancer. All participants received Jemperli every three weeks for up to nine cycles. People who experienced a complete response during treatment entered a monitoring phase, undergoing imaging and other assessments every four months for two years, then every six months thereafter. Among 116 evaluable patients, 47% had a complete response that lasted a year or longer. After a median follow-up of 26.3 months, no patients who achieved a complete or near-complete clinical response had disease progression. The approval was also based on a separate study of 50 people with previously untreated, high microsatellite instability or mismatch repair-deficient locally advanced rectal cancer. All patients in the study were also treated with Jemperli. The estimated rate of clinical complete response lasting at least a year was 93%, and the overall response rate was 100%. No patients in this trial received chemoradiation or rectal cancer surgery as part of their treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer. “Standard treatment for rectal cancer has major life-changing effects,” Angelo de Claro, director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, said in an agency statement. “For certain types of rectal cancer, this approval represents a groundbreaking option that avoids surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. This represents a significant benefit for patients and their families.”

Newly Eligible Adults Miss Colorectal Screening Discussions

Adults ages 45 to 49 who are newly eligible for colorectal cancer screening are less likely to have discussions about screening with a health care professional than older adults, according to a study presented at the 19th American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities. (The AACR also publishes Cancer Today.) The study was also published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. In 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force lowered the recommended age for routine colorectal cancer screening from 50 to 45. To evaluate adoption of this recommendation, researchers analyzed survey responses from 3,626 adults ages 45 to 75 with no history of colorectal cancer. Participants were asked whether a health care professional had ever told them about different tests available for colorectal screening. Responses were sorted into three age groups: 45 to 49, 50 to 64, and 65 to 75. Twenty-three percent of adults ages 45 to 49 reported never having discussed colorectal cancer screening with a health care professional, compared with 7% of adults ages 65 to 75, Healio reported. Half of adults ages 45 to 49 reported that a clinician discussed multiple screening options—such as stool-based alternatives to colonoscopy—compared with 73% of adults ages 65 to 75. “We expected there would be differences by age, but the magnitude of those differences were quite large,” Jordan Baeker Bispo, the study’s lead author and a cancer disparity researcher at the American Cancer Society, told Healio. “The high proportion of adults in the younger age group who reported they had never discussed colorectal cancer screening tests with their health care provider certainly was alarming, and it should be a wake-up call given the increasing burden of early-onset colorectal cancer.”

To learn more about the research findings presented at the 19th American Association for Cancer Research Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, check out Cancer Today’s coverage.

Darlene Dobkowski is the managing editor of Cancer Today.