ASCO President Presses Medicare to Cover Costs of Cancer Clinical Trial Participants

Publication
Article
OncologyONCOLOGY Vol 13 No 5
Volume 13
Issue 5

Allen Lichter, MD, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), stated at a meeting sponsored by the

Allen Lichter, MD, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), stated at a meeting sponsored by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that Medicare should pay routine patient costs for people who participate in qualified clinical trials of cancer treatments. The issue of reimbursement for clinical trial participants has been controversial for years, of course. Sens. Connie Mack (R-FL) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) were scheduled to reintroduce their clinical trials bill in April. It creates a small “demonstration program”.

The IOM, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences, will make a report on clinical trials reimbursement to the Health Care Financing Administration by September 30. “It is ASCO’s view that Medicare beneficiaries who have paid premiums and taxes should be entitled to expect coverage of their hospital and physician costs and routine diagnostic tests that would be administered regardless of whether the patient was enrolled in a trial,” Lichter said at the IOM meeting.

Recent Videos
Earlier treatment with daratumumab may be better tolerated for patients with pretreated MRD-negative multiple myeloma.
The trispecific antibody JNJ-5322 demonstrated superior efficacy vs approved agents in multiple myeloma in results shared at the 2025 EHA Congress.
Despite CD19 CAR T-cell therapy exhibiting efficacy in patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma, less than half achieve long-term remission.
4 experts in this video
4 experts in this video
“Dendritic cell vaccines, CAR T-cell therapy, and things of that nature are holding some promise,” said Andrew Brenner, MD, PhD.
Related Content