In this month’s issue of The Oncology Pharmacist (TOP), we present our coverage of the news from the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) 10th Annual Conference. TOP was there, and we highlight presentations about the 340B drug-pricing program, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents and iron supplementation for patients with cancer- and chemotherapy-induced anemia, the drug development pipeline of “intriguing” monoclonal antibodies to treat multiple myeloma, and the use of chemotherapy in a pregnant patient.
Our reader poll (see below) asks about your experience with chemotherapy and pregnant patients. Please visit our website, www.TheOncologyPharmacist.com, and let us know if this is a situation you’ve confronted and, if so, how it was handled. In her presentation at HOPA, Erica Hochard, PharmD, noted that approximately 6000 pregnant women are diagnosed with cancer each year. This number is expected to increase as more women delay childbearing, making this a situation that more of us will see in our practice.
We also present information about skin toxicity with targeted agents and how monitoring molecular response to tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia may help guide treatment decisions—this is part of our coverage of the 2014 annual meeting of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. In addition, this issue provides you with information about some of the news coming out of the 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium and Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Our coverage includes research about hormone therapy and immunotherapy for prostate cancer.
Ginah Nightingale, PharmD, BCOP, is the subject of this month’s Cancer Center Profile. Ginah is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, Jefferson School of Pharmacy at Thomas Jefferson University. She tells us about her own research interests and discusses how she became an oncology pharmacist as well as working with student pharmacists.
We encourage you to visit the TOP website and give us your feedback about what you see in print and online. We want to hear from you!