Press Release

| News Release |

For Information Contact:
Barbara Kane, Communicore
206/224-4240
bkane@communicore.com

"Preventing And Managing The Serious Side Effects Of Cancer Chemotherapy"

Published In The Journal Of Oncology Management

For Immediate Release...June 18, 1997...Seattle...On behalf of the Consortium for the Prevention and Management of the Serious Side Effects of Cancer Chemotherapy, Communicore today announced the publication of "Preventing and Managing the Serious Side Effects of Cancer Chemotherapy" in the May/June 1997 issue of The Journal of Oncology Management. The Journal is the official publication of the American College of Oncology Administrators and is a leading source of information for healthcare professionals.

The publication of this document represents the culmination of the Consortium's 18-month effort to explore the complex quality-of-life issues facing cancer chemotherapy patients and healthcare providers. The result is a set of guiding principles regarding the use, availability, and role of supportive care for the prevention and management of the serious side effects associated with cancer chemotherapy. The document advocates for increased awareness about the role of supportive therapies among all parties affected by chemotherapy treatment, including physicians, nurses, patients, employers, and payors.

The Consortium is a multi-constituency group of leaders in clinical oncology, healthcare insurance, managed care, and patient advocacy assembled by Communicore. According to D. Stephen Robins, M.D., Consortium coordinator and Communicore president, "While our discussions reflected these various points of view, consensus was nevertheless achieved regarding the importance of assessing the effects of cancer treatment on quality of life and working to prevent and manage the serious side effects of cancer chemotherapy."

"While the medical community has made great strides in the treatment of cancer itself, issues involving the patient's supportive-care needs have been relatively neglected," said Ellen L. Stovall, Consortium member and executive director of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship. "We hope that the publication of these guiding principles will help to bring the quality-of-life issues facing cancer chemotherapy patients to the closer attention of all parties involved in cancer treatment."

The success of cancer treatment is most often measured in increments of extended survival and disease-free intervals, with less importance placed on monitoring the effects of treatment on quality of life. Reimbursement policies for cancer therapies often reflect the same priorities, with little regard for alleviating the often-significant effects of the therapy itself. The choice of supportive therapies to manage the side effects of chemotherapy, however, is greater today than ever. Access to these therapies can be hindered, though, both by economic constraints and because quality-of-life effects of treatment tend to be less well-understood and therefore receive less consideration in treatment plans than survival. In many cases, the cost of using supportive therapies to prevent or manage chemotherapy-induced side effects can be offset by the savings of not having to treat them.

Members of the Consortium are: John B. Benear II, M.D., oncologist at Natalie Warren Bryant Cancer Center, St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Okla.; Wendy S. Harpham, M.D., internist, author, cancer survivor, and patient advocate in Dallas; Deborah A. Houston, R.N., former director of nursing at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston; Jeffrey G. Kaplan, M.D., network medical director of Wellcare of New York, Inc. & Primergy; Simeon A. Rubenstein, M.D., medical director of corporate health and associate director of policy development at Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound in Seattle; and Ellen L. Stovall, executive director of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship in Silver Spring, Md.

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