An Iron-Deficiency Screening Deficiency
Iron-deficiency anemia during pregnancy is relatively common , but a recent study found that many women do not receive ferritin testing – the standard test for iron deficiency .
According to a retrospective cohort study of more than 44,000 pregnant women who underwent prenatal testing at community laboratories in Canada , only 59.4 % had ferritin checked during pregnancy .
“ Despite the very high prevalence of iron deficiency in pregnancy , and how easy it is to treat , we are not doing a very good job of checking for it ,” said lead study author Jennifer Teichman , MD , of the University of Toronto , Canada .
59.4 %
Source : Teichman J , Nisenbaum R , Lausman A , Sholzberg M . Suboptimal iron deficiency screening in pregnancy and the impact of socioeconomic status in a high-resource setting [ published online ahead of print , 2021 Aug 30 ]. Blood Adv . doi : 10.1182 / bloodadvances . 2021004352 .
Failure at Launch
A JAMA Oncology study provides more evidence of out-of-control pricing of cancer medicines in the U . S ., comparing U . S . prices with those in three European countries ( England , Germany , and Switzerland ).
Researchers assessed prices at launch as well as subsequent price changes and clinical benefit of 65 cancer drugs approved between 2009 and 2019 .
Median monthly treatment costs at launch were higher in the U . S .:
$ 11,755
An Out-of-Antibody Experience
Patients with hematologic malignancies have been shown to be at increased risk of severe COVID-19 infection , and a recent study suggests that they may be at greater risk of breakthrough infections after vaccination .
This prospective cohort study assessed antibody levels of more than 1,400 patients with blood cancers who received the Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccine . Researchers found that
$ 8,300 |
25 % of patients did not produce measurable antibodies , |
|
|
|
|
leaving them vulnerable to breakthrough COVID-19 infection . |
U . S . |
Germany |
England |
Switzerland |
Seronegative rates varied according to blood cancer type . Specifically , patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes were less likely to have detectable antibodies ( ranging from 21 % in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma to 56 % in mantle cell lymphoma ), while patients with acute leukemias or myeloma were more likely to be seropositive ( ranging from 0 % to 12 %). |
Also , over the 10-year period , price hikes outpaced inflation for 48 of the 65 drugs ( 74 %) in the U . S . Notably , post-launch price increases were not tied to improvement in clinical benefit in any country .
Source : Greenberger LM , Saltzman LA , Senefeld JW , et al . Antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with hematologic malignancies . Cancer Cell . 2021 ; 39 ( 8 ): 1031-1033 .
Source : Volkinger KN , Hwang TJ , Daniore P , et al . Analysis of launch and postapproval cancer drug pricing , clinical benefit , and policy implications in the US and Europe [ published online ahead of print , 2021 Jul 1 ]. JAMA Oncol . doi : 10.1001 / jamaoncol . 2021.2026 .
52 ASH Clinical News October 2021