A small but steady increase in cancer cases at young ages has been recorded in recent years. Typically, in the last decade there has been an increase of approximately 2% each year in the incidence of cervical cancer in young patients aged 30-44 years.
This alarming increase comes on top of rising levels of cancer worldwide as the population ages.
Nevertheless, innovation has made a difference, with immunotherapies, targeted therapies, biomarkers, early diagnosis and screening. The result is significant progress in survival.
Especially in metastatic melanoma, which 10-15 years ago led to death in 12 months, now the survival rates are 10 times higher.
The same is true of lung cancer. In the past the average survival was 12 months. Now, a third of those diagnosed between 2016-2018 live for more than 5 years.
Accordingly, we also see the impact of cervical cancer prevention through vaccination against HPV.
With these words, Mr Mike Holmes, Vice–president, Medical & Scientific Affairs Oncology Therapeutic Area her MSD Global, addressed the contribution of innovation in the treatment of cancer, highlighting the need for collaboration between social partners for better outcomes in patient care, as part of its 4th annual conference Economist for cancer.
“Cancer remains a huge burden on public health and all agencies must work together. There is a lot that needs to be done in terms of prevention, as about half of cancers can be prevented,” emphasized Mr. Holmes and underlined that “the quality of patient care is also very important”.
Referring to prevention, he emphasized that a lot can and should be done with initiatives, especially regarding smoking, alcohol and obesity.
He pointed out the efforts in our country to reduce the number of smokers, but also the importance of preventive checks, observing that “Greece deals more with prevention programs, such as for breast, colon and lung cancer, as the early diagnosis leads to longer survival.” Accordingly, he found a dynamic in the use of biomarkers and emphasized that the goal ultimately is “to transform cancer from a fatal disease to a chronic disease.”
To do all this, however, he pointed out that cooperation between governments, companies and oncologists is needed.
Given its catalytic contribution MSD in Oncology, but also the company’s extensive research program in the specific field, already with 2,200 clinical studies in progress internationally, Mr. Holmes he also focused on the effects of the pandemic, which, as he said, “highlighted inequalities that we didn’t know existed” and emphasized that “these inequalities must be addressed”.
Clinical studies
In particular, he focused on the possibility of patients who participated in the clinical studies to be able to continue receiving their treatment despite restrictions on movement and access to health services, saying that “a key objective of MSDwere all patients who participated in clinical studies to continue to remain in them at the same rate.”
At the same time, he pointed out that “as far as cancer is concerned, we must, in collaboration with politicians and oncologists, reach out to communities that we did not know before”.
In Greece, the company is preparing an extensive program of clinical studies, mainly in the field of Oncology. Characteristically, in recent years the number of clinical studies in its field Oncology has almost tripled, from 13 in 2019 to 41 in 2023.
These data for the clinical studies of the field of Oncology MSD in our country, he said at the same conference, Christian Hosius, Senior Clinical Director, MSD European Clinical Development as part of his speech on the upcoming changes in the field of clinical trials due to scientific progress and innovation leading to targeted therapies.
He characteristically emphasized that “with regard to cancer, before starting the treatment, we should identify the patients who will benefit from it. And we should start an effective treatment before the tumor metastasizes.”
“To achieve this, more studies aimed at personalized treatment are needed,” explained Mr. Todayhowever, explained that personalization is often not easy to achieve, because the goal of research concerns a broader field of research inquiry, so it does not always focus on a very specific goal.
Helping to determine this goal, are “new technologies, which have given us different tools, such as biopsies of innovative technology, imaging, artificial intelligence and machine learning, etc.
All this, however, means that the design of clinical studies will change.
The new studies will involve smaller groups of patients with specific characteristics and indicators. And other involved bodies should also contribute to this.”
Explaining, Mr. Today stated that in the case of a clinical study for a specific type of cancer, the effort concerns the determination of a molecule that will be effective for the specific cancer. In addition, it should also be safe. These two characteristics (safety and efficacy) are necessary for the medicine to be approved by the competent authorities.
Each stage of the study answers different questions. But not all questions are equally important.
And each additional question makes the study more complicated and the process more painful for the patient.
The question is what data are needed to answer the relevant questions without compromising the quality of the study. Simple design is a new challenge that offers us many opportunities.
Ending Mr. Today he underlined: “all together health organizations, patients, companies, we can make a difference. No one can do it alone.”
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