Posted by Michael Wonder on 09 Sep 2019
Inside drug makers' strategy to boost cancer medicines with 'Lazarus effect'
6 September 2019 - In the halls of MD Anderson Cancer Center, the drug Vitrakvi is known for having a “Lazarus effect” in some patients because it can reverse late-stage cancer that has defied all other treatment options.
Adoption of so-called next-generation sequencing tests has been stalled by lack of reimbursement from insurers over concerns that the evidence is not there yet to support widescale use, according to more than a dozen interviews with oncologists and pharmaceutical and diagnostic industry executives.
As a result, pharma companies from small biotech Blueprint Medicines to larger rivals Lilly and Roche are taking matters into their own hands, bulking up staff to increase patient and physician awareness about testing and building up a gene testing infrastructure that for many community hospitals still does not exist.
