The Heart of Oncology Will Beat at ASCO 2018

Every year during the first week of June, cancer professionals worldwide turn their attention to the annual congress of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, known as ASCO, held in Chicago, United States. This year, with over 39 thousand participants, the ASCO Congress is the world’s largest oncology event. Healthcare professionals are not the only ones following this congress: over 500 patient advocates have reportedly also registered this year to closely follow developments in cancer medicine.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is a scientific society established in 1964 when 7 oncologists came together.

The main theme of the ASCO 2018 Congress was set as Delivering Discoveries: Expanding the Reach of Precision Medicine . Previously called personalized or individualized medicine, precision medicinehas led to many advances in cancer treatment, but there is still much to learn in this field. Increasing our ability to offer these treatments to all patients is also as important as discovering new treatments.

• Is It Not Time for More Precise Medicine? Cancer and Precision Medicine

Although the ASCO 2018 Congress will run from 1 June to 5 June, results of some noteworthy studies have been published in advance:

Noteworthy Topics Ahead of ASCO 2018

• Patients with head and neck cancer experience fewer symptoms when they are monitored using mobile technologies .
• The targeted medicine used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer, trastuzumab (brand name Herceptin), was found effective when given for 6 months instead of 12 months and caused fewer heart problems.
• For T-cell leukemia and lymphoma, new treatment regimens are extending young patients’ lives.
• Only 1% of heavy smokers were found to undergo the recommended lung cancer screening .
• Psychotherapy and acupuncturemay help people suffering from insomnia after cancer treatment.
• Comprehensive genomic testing can be offered as part of routine treatment for advanced lung cancer.

To elaborate on one of the topics above, the use of comprehensive genetic testing in lung cancer:

Metastatic, non-small cell lung cancer was the focus of a study comparing different approaches to genomic testing. It showed that using next-generation sequencing (NGS) at diagnosis is faster and cheaper than testing 1 gene or a few genes at a time. A major advantage of next-generation sequencing is that it can test changes or mutations in many genes at once and requires less tissue than individual tests.

In recent years, when planning treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), genomic tests have become an important requirement. Genomic tests examine genes in the tumor to help predict how quickly the cancer may grow and spread. EGFR, ALK, ROS1, BRAF, MET, HER2, RET and NTRK1 are among several genes associated with NSCLC. Used to predict response to immunotherapy, PD-L1 is also an important biomarkerin NSCLC treatment.

In lung cancer, a genetic alteration driving cancer development is discovered almost every year, and targeted medicines for each of the genetic alterations listed above are currently available.

• 4 New Lung Cancer Medicines Included in Reimbursement Coverage

With ASCO 2018, we at the OncoTrust team have begun an intensive period of work. We will follow all developments and share them with you alongside our own commentary... 

• Innovations in Lung Cancer Treatment—2017 and 2018
• Innovations in Breast Cancer Treatment—2017 and 2018
• Innovations in Colon and Rectal (Large Bowel) Cancer Treatment—2017 and 2018
• Innovations in Prostate Cancer Treatment—2017 and 2018