John Lin

Medical oncologist and health services researcher. Assistant professor, MD Anderson Cancer Center

[John Lin @johnlin08]

@DrDiGiorgio If anything, your example “let’s make so many regulations that it …. takes over 60 pages of forms to renovate your house” shows us all of this paperwork has unintended harms ….

[John Lin @johnlin08]

@DrDiGiorgio I get what you’re saying, but my Medicaid patient fell out of cancer treatment for being out of work (he was disabled from cancer and the paperwork got messed up). When he came back, his spine was riddled with cancer, requiring radiation & neurosurgery… then died 6 mos later

[UT MD Anderson @UTMDAnderson]

Presented by Dr. Emanuele Crupi at #ASCO26, this phase II study highlights the potential of GemFLP (gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin, and cisplatin) in advanced urachal and non-urachal urinary tract adenocarcinoma.

The regimen achieved a 44% response rate, durable responses and a median overall survival of 21 months, providing important prospective data for these rare cancers. @emanuele_crupi #EndCancer

[UT MD Anderson @UTMDAnderson]

Presented by Dr. Pavlos Msaouel at #ASCO26, a collaborative multi-institutional study identified EGFR as a key therapeutic vulnerability in SMARCB1-deficient renal medullary carcinoma, a rare and highly aggressive kidney cancer.

Panitumumab-based therapy produced a 53.9% response rate, including complete responses, in heavily pretreated patients, supporting a promising new treatment approach for this disease. @PavlosMsaouel #EndCancer

[Zachariah Thomas @DrZachariahT]

Thank you @DocMattCampbell @OAlhalabiMD @glovedoc @andrewjohnsmd and @nabiladra for the opportunity to present important data from @UTMDAnderson and @IU_Health on transformed mediastinal GCT at @ASCO. @TowfikSebai and I have learnt so much from you all!

[UT MD Anderson @UTMDAnderson]

Presented by Dr. Andrew Hahn at #ASCO26, an analysis from the phase II LenCabo trial found that lenvatinib plus everolimus was associated with greater reductions in body mass index, skeletal muscle mass and subcutaneous fat compared with cabozantinib in patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma after PD-1 inhibitor progression. @OncHahn #EndCancer 6/7

[Mike Glover @glovedoc]

Our outstanding post-doc @DrZachariahT presenting data on mediastinal GCT with somatic malignancy. A rare but difficult to treat entity, significantly enriched for sarcoma and p53 mut.

IM program directors be on the look out, he is a ⭐️!

[Fumiko Ladd Chino, MD, FASCO @fumikochino]

For 5 years I have been honored to serve as a consultant editor @JCOOP_ASCO. 1st as #SocialMedia editor & now as podcast director. The community on the editor team/board & the quality of the published work is why this is my fav @ASCO journal. ✅ Submit your #asco26 work today!

[Fumiko Ladd Chino, MD, FASCO @fumikochino]

Dr @ChrisManzMD @DanaFarber #ASCO26: a RTC pilot study found that AI via large language models LLM can help summarize serious illness conversations for clinicians. Patients felt they may be of variable use for themselves however felt comfortable with LLM use for medical teams.

[John Lin @johnlin08]

New rule of thumb for generics:

If your copay or coinsurance is higher than $15, you’re paying too much.

Skip your insurance and buy directly from @costplusdrugs , @GoodRx , @Costco , etc

[Adam J. Fein @DrugChannels]

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐂𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐫 (𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧) 🏆

For a surprising number of generic drugs, paying cash through @costplusdrugs can be dramatically cheaper than using commercial insurance:

A new article from @AnnalsofIM found:

• For generic prescriptions with out-of-pocket costs above $15, nearly 80% would have been cheaper through Cost Plus Drugs.

• For prescriptions with cost sharing above $100, the median patient cost dropped from $140 through insurance to just $25 through Cost Plus.

Affordability directly impacts adherence and outcomes. Unfortunately, the warped incentives of the U.S. drug channel mean that many insured patients pay MORE than transparent cash pricing.

Small caveat: Less than 5% of generic prescriptions had OOP<$15.

Nonetheless, another reminder from Mark Cuban @mcuban that complexity is the enemy of low costs and efficiency.

Full article
👇
https://t.co/hX4yHnakiR

[USC Schaeffer @USCSchaeffer]

Insured patients with higher cost-sharing on generic drugs can usually get a better deal through the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, finds new research co-authored by USC Schaeffer's Erin Trish.
https://t.co/Y1WqsztYp9

[John Lin @johnlin08]

@darcydarnoc @UTMDAnderson Depends. But if your prescription copay’s are high enough you were going to reach that maximum (can be thousands per year), you probably could have saved 80% thru Mark Cuban

[Jenny Xiang @JennyXiangMD]

Incredible grateful to be part of this work to understand which patients with commercial insurances may benefit from using @costplusdrugs

For my fellow oncologists, generic cancer drugs that may save patients $ include abiraterone, capecitabine, imatinib, and dasatinib

[UT MD Anderson @UTMDAnderson]

New research suggests direct-to-consumer pharmacies may help lower out-of-pocket costs for some generic medications, particularly for patients facing higher prescription cost-sharing.

Read more: https://t.co/AopUdF3z1n @johnlin08 #EndCancer

[Fumiko Ladd Chino, MD, FASCO @fumikochino]

Great 🧵 here 👇👇👇 on the new work led by Dr @johnlin08 from @UTMDAnderson on when patients should consider direct-to-consumer pharmacies to save money on high out-of-pocket cost #prescriptions and thus reduce #financialToxicity

@AnnalsofIM 📄 here: https://t.co/vgLU4hUwvQ

[Eugene Lin @eugelin06]

Check out this brilliant paper from @johnlin08 on exactly how much your patients can save from @mcuban and @costplusdrugs on generics

Even WITH insurance

[Charles Jiang MD, MPH @CharlesJiangMD]

cant overestimate the importance of the paper! i have used costplus pharmacy personally and professionally. trust me, check it out . you would be surprised how much we are paying for drugs.

[John Lin @johnlin08]

Grateful to tackle this with such an awesome team @JennyXiangMD, @sunitamd, @fumikochino, @drmengli, @CharlesJiangMD, and many more not on social media.

[John Lin @johnlin08]

If your employer-sponsored insurance copay for a generic is over $15, then 80% of the time, you are overpaying.

In @AnnalsofIM, we analyzed nationwide data on employer plans vs @mcuban’s @costplusdrugs.

Here is a breakdown on who stands to save most. 🧵

[Annals of Int Med @AnnalsofIM]

NEW: Many patients could pay less for generic drugs by purchasing directly from the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company @costplusdrugs instead of using employer-sponsored insurance. The findings suggest that patients should consider direct-to-consumer pharmacies for higher out-of-pocket cost #prescriptions. https://t.co/WR1aY2QXCe

[John Lin @johnlin08]

📉 Currently, data for real time prescription benefit (RTPB) tools are constrained in the PBM-insurer network.

We compared savings through @mcuban @costplusdrugs to RTPBs studied by Desai et al. (JAMA IM, 2022).

Savings through cost plus drugs was substantially greater.