Global Focus

Oncology & Biotech News

In this issue of we provide updates from the 14th European Cancer Conference (ECCO), which took place September 23-27 in Barcelona, Spain. This year’s meeting provided one of the largest multidisciplinary forums for discussing the entire spectrum of cancer research and management and included Europe’s latest research, with the focus on translating science into better clinical practice. In this publication, we aim to provide reports and insight for community-based oncologists and focus on research inside and outside the United States. As we all know, research from outside the United States directly impacts our practices here. We have also organized the ECCO meeting highlights by cancer type, to better provide a quick overview for you. For more details on the studies we’ve featured, visit the ECCO website (www.eccoorg. eu), which provides an excellent overview of the presentations.

Reimbursement and Managed Care

This month’s department provides an update of the journals that the federal government believes are good sources of credible, evidence-based data on evolving indications for oncology medicines. This new list—the first since its initial publication in 1993—reaffirms the government’s understanding that oncologists often treat cancer with medications that are not specifically approved for the neoplasm or carcinoma being managed, and it’s based on the recommendations of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists. The Table on page 22 lists the most recent additions.

Physicians’ Financial News

In (page 18), we focus on Pharmion, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Unlike some biotechnology companies, whose product lines and research and development efforts are intended to address a variety of disease states, Pharmion has built its name by focusing its research and development efforts on hematology and oncology. Pharmion has followed an interesting expansion path by developing compounds in-house or by purchasing them from other drug manufacturers via collaborative agreements and/or outright acquisitions. Pharmion has a number of collaborative partnerships with industry leaders such as Pfizer and Schering and cutting-edge biotech companies such as MethylGene and GPC-Biotech. Pharmion has two FDA-approved products, Vidaza and Innohep, as well as four product candidates (one of which is an alternative formulation of Vidaza) in various stages of clinical development. We hope that you’ll find our feature of Pharmion interesting and useful.

Thank you again for your feedback and encouragement as we grow our publication. We’ll continue to provide you with the global view and financial perspective that gives you a unique outlook on oncology care.