Healthcare resource use and reimbursement amount by site of care in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma receiving chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy - a retrospective cohort study using CMS 100% Medicare claims database.

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) infusion settings may impact healthcare resource use (HRU) and reimbursement amounts. Adults with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma receiving CAR-T therapy were identified from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 100% fee-for-service Medicare database and stratified into inpatient (IP; n = 380) and outpatient (OP; n = 50) cohorts based on CAR-T infusion setting. During the first month post-infusion, OP cohort had significantly fewer IP visits, IP days, intensive care unit (ICU) stays, ICU days, and significantly more OP, emergency room (ER) visits, than IP cohort. In subsequent months, HRU became comparable between cohorts. Medicare reimbursement amounts during the first month post-infusion were nominally higher in the OP vs. IP cohort and comparable in subsequent months. The reimbursement amounts did not reflect the reduced HRU with OP infusions, potentially due to differences in Medicare payment policies for OP vs. IP services.

The risk of chronic kidney disease development in adult patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism treated with rhPTH(1-84): A retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) and decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) over a period of up to 5 years in adult patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism treated with recombinant human parathyroid hormone (1-84) (rhPTH[1-84]) compared with a historical control cohort of patients not treated with rhPTH(1-84). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study of patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism treated with rhPTH(1-84) derived from the REPLACE (NCT00732615), RELAY (NCT01268098), RACE (NCT01297309) and HEXT (NCT01199614, and its continuation study NCT02910466) clinical trials and a historical control cohort who did not receive PTH selected from an electronic medical record database. PATIENTS: One hundred and eighteen patients treated with rhPTH(1-84) and 497 patient controls. MEASUREMENTS: Incident CKD was defined as ≥2 eGFR measurements <60 ml/min/1.73 m2 ≥3 months apart during the study and a sustained eGFR decline of ≥30% from baseline. RESULTS: Over the 5-year period, Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that rhPTH(1-84)-treated patients had a significantly lower risk of developing CKD (log-rank p = .002) and a lower risk for a sustained eGFR decline ≥30% from baseline (log-rank p < .001) compared with patients in the control cohort. In adjusted analyses, patients in the rhPTH(1-84)-treated cohort had a 53% lower risk of developing CKD (hazard ratio [HR], 0.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25-0.87) and a 65% lower risk for sustained eGFR decline ≥30% from baseline (HR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.13-0.89) compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism treated with rhPTH(1-84) in long-term clinical trials had a significantly lower risk of developing CKD compared with patients in a historical control cohort not treated with rhPTH(1-84).

Five-Year Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate in Adults with Chronic Hypoparathyroidism Treated with rhPTH(1-84): A Retrospective Cohort Study.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic hypoparathyroidism is associated with higher risk of developing chronic kidney disease compared with the general population. This study evaluated changes in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) over a 5-year period in adult patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism treated with recombinant parathyroid hormone (1-84), rhPTH(1-84), compared with a historical control cohort of patients who did not receive rhPTH(1-84). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism treated with rhPTH(1-84) in the REPLACE (NCT00732615), RELAY (NCT01268098), RACE (NCT01297309), and HEXT (NCT01199614 and continuation study NCT02910466) clinical trials. A historical control cohort who did not receive parathyroid hormone but who had enrollment criteria similar to those for the clinical trials was selected from the IBM® Explorys electronic medical record database (January 2007-August 2019). Outcomes of interest were the annual rate of change in eGFR from baseline (i.e., eGFR slope) and the predicted eGFR change from baseline at years 1 through 5. RESULTS: The study comprised 72 adult patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism treated with rhPTH(1-84) and 176 control patients who did not receive rhPTH(1-84). Over 5 years, eGFR remained stable in the rhPTH(1-84) cohort, whereas eGFR declined at a rate of 1.67 mL/min/1.73 m2 per year in the control cohort (P < 0.001 for eGFR slope in the control cohort). At 5 years, predicted eGFR in the rhPTH(1-84) cohort increased from baseline by 1.21 mL/min/1.73 m2, whereas eGFR in the control cohort declined by 10.36 mL/min/1.73 m2, after adjusting for baseline variables. The difference in eGFR slopes between the cohorts over 5 years was 1.37 mL/min/1.73 m2 per year (95% CI 0.62-2.13; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Long-term treatment with rhPTH(1-84) was associated with stable eGFR compared with eGFR decline in the controls not treated with rhPTH(1-84). Preservation of renal function conferred by rhPTH(1-84) may benefit patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism by reducing risk of long-term renal complications.

The acute effects of azithromycin use on cardiovascular mortality as compared with amoxicillin-clavulanate in US Veterans.

PURPOSE: Azithromycin is a common first-line antibiotic for respiratory infection; however, there is conflicting evidence regarding risk of cardiovascular death. We assessed cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mortality associated with azithromycin versus amoxicillin-clavulanate among US Veterans treated for nonear-nose-throat respiratory infection ("respiratory") or ear-nose-throat infection indication. METHODS: Electronic health record data from the US Veterans Health Administration database were used to identify Veterans (30-74 years) with outpatient dispensings of oral azithromycin versus amoxicillin-clavulanate for respiratory or ear-nose-throat infection (January 01, 2000-December 31, 2014). Outcomes assessed were risk of cardiovascular death and noncardiovascular death within 1-5 and 6-10 days postdispensing. Inverse probability of treatment-weighted proportional hazards models and binomial regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and compute risk differences (RD) per million courses of therapy. Cardiac death (subset of cardiovascular death) was assessed in sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: There were 629 345 azithromycin and 168 429 amoxicillin-clavulanate dispensings for respiratory indications, 143 783 azithromycin, and 203 142 amoxicillin-clavulanate dispensings for ear-nose-throat indications. For respiratory indications, azithromycin was not associated with a significantly different risk of cardiovascular death versus amoxicillin-clavulanate within 1-5 days postdispensing (HR [95% confidence interval (CI)]: 1.12 [0.63, 2.00]; RD [95% CI]: 11 [-43, 64] deaths/million courses of therapy). No elevated risk for azithromycin was found for ear-nose-throat indications. Pooled results for both indications via meta-analysis showed no association between antibiotics and cardiovascular mortality. There was no significant difference in risk of noncardiovascular or cardiac death between antibiotics postdispensing. CONCLUSION: Azithromycin was not associated with elevated risk of cardiovascular or noncardiovascular death versus amoxicillin-clavulanate among US Veterans.

Impact of switching to infliximab biosimilars on treatment patterns among US veterans receiving innovator infliximab.

OBJECTIVE: To compare treatment patterns of United States (US) veterans stable on innovator infliximab (IFX) who switched to an IFX biosimilar (switchers) or remained on innovator IFX (continuers). METHODS: US Veterans Healthcare Administration data (01/2012-12/2019) were used to identify adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), plaque psoriasis (PsO), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), or Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (i.e. inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]), treated with innovator or biosimilar IFX. Index date was the first IFX biosimilar administration for switchers or a random innovator IFX administration for continuers. Patients were required to have ≥5 innovator IFX administrations during the 12 months pre-index (prevalent population). Patients with ≥12 months of observation prior to the first innovator IFX administration were analyzed as the primary population (incident population), and data were assessed from start of innovator IFX. Inverse probability of treatment weighting was used to balance baseline characteristics between cohorts. Treatment patterns were evaluated post-index; continuers were censored before switching to IFX biosimilar. Discontinuation was defined as switching to another biologic (including innovator IFX) or having ≥120 days between 2 consecutive index treatment records. RESULTS: In the incident population, mean [median] duration of follow-up was 737 [796] days among switchers (N = 838) and 479 [337] days among continuers (N = 849). Compared to continuers, switchers were 2.88-times more likely to discontinue index therapy (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.88, p < .001) and 4.99-times more likely to switch to another innovator biologic (HR = 4.99, p < .001). Of 653 switchers switching to another innovator biologic, 594 (91.0%) switched back to innovator IFX. Results were similar among the prevalent population and RA and IBD subgroups. CONCLUSION: Patients switching from innovator to biosimilar IFX were more likely to discontinue treatment and switch to another innovator biologic (notably back to innovator IFX) than those remaining on innovator IFX; however, reasons for discontinuation and switching are unknown.

Real-world outcomes of patients with locally advanced or metastatic epithelioid sarcoma.

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available on the real-world effectiveness and safety of systemic therapies for advanced (surgically unresectable and/or metastatic) epithelioid sarcoma (ES). METHODS: A retrospective medical records review was conducted in patients with advanced ES who were initiating first-line or ≥2 lines of systemic therapy (2000-2017) at 5 US cancer centers. The real-world overall response rate (rwORR), the duration of response (rwDOR), the disease control rate (rwDCR) (defined as stable disease for ≥32 weeks or any duration of response), and progression-free survival (rwPFS) were assessed by radiology reports. Overall survival (OS), rwDOR, and rwPFS were estimated from the time therapy was initiated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Serious adverse events were assessed. RESULTS: Of 74 patients (median age at diagnosis, 33 years; range, 10.6-76.3 years), 72% were male, and 85% had metastatic disease. The median number of lines of therapy was 2 (range, 1-7 lines of therapy), and 46 patients (62%) received ≥2 lines of systemic therapy. First-line regimens were usually anthracycline-based (54%) or gemcitabine-based (24%). For patients receiving first-line systemic therapy, the rwORR was 15%, the rwDCR was 20%, the median rwDOR was 3.3 months (95% CI, 2.1-5.2 months), the median rwPFS was 2.5 months (95% CI, 1.7, 6.9 months), and the median OS was 15.2 months (95% CI, 11.4-21.7 months). For those who received ≥2 lines of systemic therapy, the rwORR was 9%, the rwDCR was 20%, the median rwDOR was 4.5 months (95% CI, 0.7-5.6 months), and the median rwPFS was 6.0 months (95% CI, 3.2-7.4 months). Over one-half of patients (51.4%) experienced an adverse event, most frequently febrile neutropenia (14%), pain (10%), anemia, dyspnea, fever, thrombocytopenia, or transaminitis (5% each). CONCLUSIONS: Systemic therapies demonstrate limited efficacy in patients with advanced ES and have associated toxicities.