State governments are increasingly considering legislation to streamline prior authorizations processes, which Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) members say delay patient care, adversely affect cancer care outcomes, and divert providers from patient care. States have regulatory authority over fully insured health benefit plans (group and individual plans) and health benefit plans administered by the state itself (Medicaid and state employee benefit plans). This means that state governments can impact plan design through either legislation or regulatory action, and during the past decade, a majority of states have been working to leverage that impact to reform prior authorization.
ASCO in Action provides the latest news and analysis related to critical policy issues affecting the cancer community, updates on the Association for Clinical Oncology’s ongoing advocacy efforts, and opportunities for members and others in the cancer care community to take action.
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April 9, 2024
March 7, 2024
On March 6, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved nivolumab (Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company) in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine for first-line treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC).
March 7, 2024
On March 7, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to zanubrutinib (Brukinsa, BeiGene USA, Inc.) with obinutuzumab for relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL) after two or more lines of systemic therapy.
March 6, 2024
Irinotecan Liposome for First-line Treatment of Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Approved by FDA
On February 13, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved irinotecan liposome (Onivyde, Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.) with oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and leucovorin, for the first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
March 1, 2024
On March 1, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved amivantamab-vmjw (Rybrevant, Janssen Biotech, Inc.) with carboplatin and pemetrexed for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 20 insertion mutations, as detected by an FDA-approved test.
February 26, 2024
The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a joint Request for Information on how group purchasing organizations’ and drug wholesalers’ practices are impacting the generic drug market. The Association for Clinical Oncology encourages stakeholders within the cancer community to comment to give federal agencies the perspective they need from across the myriad settings of cancer care.
February 16, 2024
On February 16, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved osimertinib (Tagrisso, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP) with platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (la/mNSCLC) whose tumors have EGFR exon 19 deletions or exon 21 L858R mutations, as detected by an FDA-approved test.
February 16, 2024
On February 15, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration granted traditional approval to tepotinib (Tepmetko, EMD Serono, Inc.) for adult patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) exon 14 skipping alterations.
February 16, 2024
On February 16, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to lifileucel (Amtagvi, Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc.), a tumor-derived autologous T cell immunotherapy, for adult patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma previously treated with a PD-1 blocking antibody, and if BRAF V600 positive, a BRAF inhibitor with or without a MEK inhibitor.
February 14, 2024
On February 13, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved irinotecan liposome (Onivyde, Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.) with oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and leucovorin, for the first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
February 6, 2024
Julie R. Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, Chief Medical Officer & Executive Vice President of the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), will testify before the full House Committee on Ways and Means on the crisis of ongoing cancer drug shortages. Dr. Gralow will share ASCO members’ firsthand experiences managing clinical care in the face of severe shortages. She will also urge Congress to take action to help mitigate the problem.
January 19, 2024
On January 19, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved erdafitinib (Balversa, Janssen Biotech) for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) with susceptible FGFR3 genetic alterations, as determined by an FDA-approved companion diagnostic test, whose disease has progressed on or after at least one line of prior systemic therapy. Erdafitinib is not recommended for the treatment of patients who are eligible for and have not received prior PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor therapy. This approval amends the indication previously granted under accelerated approval for patients with mUC with susceptible FGFR3 or FGFR2 alterations after prior platinum-containing chemotherapy.
January 12, 2024
On January 12, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck) with chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for patients with FIGO 2014 Stage III-IVA cervical cancer.