Reporting from the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium

Keeping Current With the Latest Advances

Reporting from the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium

In this month’s issue of Oncology & Biotech News, we report on the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, which was held in New York City in November. This excellent meeting highlighted emerging therapies in cancer treatment and described the ways in which these treatments are changing our views and management of cancer. Dr. Edward P. Ambinder, Associate Chairman of the Chemotherapy Foundation and Professor at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, summed up many oncologists' views of our industry by stating, “With certain tumors, we are now fortunate to have drugs that can effectively control cancer with very tolerable side effects. The standard by which we measured the success of a therapy was in overall survival rates, but now we’re looking at progression-free survival and improvement in patient quality of life.” These new cancer treatments are leading us to redefine what is a successful clinical outcome.

Oncologists have never had so many treatment options. Keeping up to date on the newly available drugs and their uses—in addition to the ways in which they can be effectively combined with older treatments—is an important challenge for us. As Dr. Ambinder pointed out at the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium: “It’s going to be challenging for community oncologists to keep up with all of these advancements.”

Oncology & Biotech News

Reimbursement and Managed Care

We must also be knowledgeable about the financial implications of using these drugs. The high cost of new cancer treatments must be taken into account when we sit down with our patients to discuss therapeutic options. In our write-up of the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, we touch on this topic, as we do in every issue of in our department. In each issue of this publication, we provide reports and insight (like our coverage of the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium) for the community-based oncologist. As always, we look forward to hearing if you find this information useful.