title: Formulary decision making in a specialty hospital: effective management of potent and costly drug therapies.
abstract: Substantial progress has been made in the treatment of cancer in the past few decades. Complex drug therapy regimens, supportive-care therapies, and therapeutic complications--namely, infection--have made clinical management challenging, however. In this exclusive Hospital Formulary interview, Michael Keating, MD, and William Dana, PharmD, Chairman and Secretary, respectively, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's P & T Committee, discuss successful methods of maintaining an effective formulary in a cancer center. Although efficacy and toxicity of therapy remain the primary considerations when evaluating drugs, with a formulary weighted with cancer chemotherapeutic agents, antibiotics, and other supportive intravenous formulations, cost is also critical. These health professionals describe how they balance the issues associated with rational, yet cost-effective drug therapy.
authors: M J
authors: MJ
authors: Keating
authors: W J
authors: WJ
authors: Dana
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002173:Cancer Care Facilities; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D005572:Formularies, Hospital as Topic; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006782:Hospitals, Special; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010606:Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee; D013781:Texas
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents