C hronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a bone marrow and blood disorder accounting for 15% of adult leukemias. 1 CML is associated with a chromosomal abnormality where there is a translocation of chromosomes 9 and 22, which code for the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 5,980 new cases of CML diagnosed (3,130 in men and 2,850 in women) during 2014 and 810 people will die of CML during this same time period.2 The median age at onset is 67 years, but CML occurs in all age groups.The 5-year survival rates for CML have increased dramatically with improved treatments, from 31% between 1990 and 1992 Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treatment is lifelong, and while it is important for patients to remain adherent to treatment, there are conflicting findings with respect to differences in adherence and persistence with dasatinib or nilotinib during second-line treatment.

Summary We examined United States Renal Data System (USRDS) data for adult kidney transplant recipients in 1995–2003 (n = 87 575) to investigate associations of 12‐month renal function with long‐term clinical outcomes. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was computed by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation. Associations of eGFR at the first transplant anniversary with graft and patient‐survival in years 1–9 post‐transplant were evaluated by multivariate nonlinear regression with spline forms, adjusted for recipient, donor, and transplant factors. Regardless of donor type, the likelihood of graft failure and death increased significantly with lower eGFR. The impact of poor eGFR was more pronounced for graft failure than death. Relative effects were similar across donor types, but were strongest among living‐donor recipients. For example, compared with reference eGFR of 80 ml/min/1.73 m2, 1‐year eGFR of 20 ml/min/1.73 m2 was associated with adjusted hazards ratios for subsequent death‐censored graft failure of 9.2 in living, 8.9 in standard criteria deceased, and 5.9 in expanded criteria deceased‐donor recipients. First‐year renal function after kidney transplantation has strong, nonlinear associations with subsequent allograft and patient survival regardless of donor type. Post‐transplant eGFR may be a useful end‐point for discriminating benefits of care strategies that differentially affect renal function.

Monthly total healthcare costs were higher for bDMARD switchers following the switch compared to non-switchers. Patients on abatacept switched less frequently than patients on anti-TNFs. This study highlights the need to identify patients who are likely to switch in order to ensure they receive the appropriate therapy which may improve outcomes and decrease healthcare costs.

Abatacept was estimated to be more cost effective than rituximab for use in RA from a US third-party payer perspective. However, head-to-head clinical trials and long-term observational data are needed to confirm these findings.

In this MTC, abatacept demonstrated similar efficacy at 6 months, a higher likelihood of achieving ACR70 response and DAS28 remission at 12 months and better tolerability relative to the combined TNFi in patients with RA who had an inadequate response to conventional DMARDs.