NCCN: National Comprehensive Cancer Network Annual Conference

On the closing day of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 23rd Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, Bijal Shah, MD, of Moffitt Cancer Center, presented on acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and on the lessons learned from the application of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in this indication.

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors has revolutionized the treatment of cancer, said John A. Thompson, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, but “With this good news has come some not so good news”: immune-related adverse events can cause serious harm to patients receiving these drugs.

At the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 23rd Annual Conference, held March 22-24 in Orlando, Florida, Sharon H. Giordano, MD, MPH, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Anthony D. Elias, MD, University of Colorado Cancer Center; and William J. Gradishar, MD, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, provided an update on the NCCN guidelines for the treatment of breast cancer and discussed new directions in breast cancer therapy.

During a Friday session of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 23rd Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, Cliff Goodman, PhD, of the Lewin Group, moderated a multi-stakeholder panel discussion on delivering and receiving cancer care in value-based care models.

The second day of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 23rd Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, opened with a dual keynote presentation on transforming cancer care in the United States.

Sharing data and a collaborative relationship are 2 best practices from commercial payers participating in the Oncology Care Model, according to Ron Kline, MD, FAAP, of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

Sidedness matters for metastatic disease, and right-sided colon cancer has been known for a shorter time than left-sided colon cancer, making the right-sided version more difficult to treat, explained Alan Venook, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“Even though we have all these fancy, effective drugs,” said Shaji K. Kumar, MD, “supportive care still plays an important role in multiple myeloma.”

Alan Venook, MD, recalled a time when the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for treating colon cancer were just 4 pages long. “I don’t think we envisioned that these guidelines would take on the life that they have,” he said.

“HIV status alone should not be used for cancer treatment decision making,” said Gita Suneja, MD, Duke Cancer Institute.

The large database of information contained in the California Cancer Registry is useful for both local clinicians and researchers around the world, as it allows them to compare cancer outcomes by a number of demographic characteristics, according to Moon S. Chen Jr, PhD, MPH, professor of hematology and oncology at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and principal investigator of The National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities.

Matthew Gubens, MD, MS, assistant clinical professor of thoracic oncology at the University of California, San Francisco, discussed the areas of lung immuno-oncology research where he anticipates significant advances will be made in coming years.

When developing interventions to improve population health, particularly among minority groups, research must take a culturally sensitive approach that is targeted to the specific needs of that population, according to Moon S. Chen Jr, PhD, MPH, professor of hematology and oncology at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and principal investigator of The National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities. He also emphasized the importance of clinicians’ role in population health.

Programs like One Great Community aim to engage communities in the process of population health research, which is a key to successful public health initiatives, explained Shauntice Allen, PhD, assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health.

By understanding the biology of myeloma tumor cells, researchers can better develop therapies, including drug combinations, that target the complex mechanisms at play in the disease, according to Shaji Kumar, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

When employing immunotherapies, oncologists must be vigilant in spotting any adverse events and calling in their colleagues, like dermatologists or pulmonologists, to help manage these toxicities, according to Matthew Gubens, MD, MS, assistant clinical professor of thoracic oncology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Two of the most important determinants of cancer outcomes are the culture and behavior of both the provider and the patient, explained Moon S. Chen Jr, PhD, MPH, professor of hematology and oncology at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and principal investigator of The National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, in Orlando, Florida, Paul M. Cinciripini, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center delivered a presentation on a mission he said he has spent the better part of his life working on: getting patients with cancer to quit smoking cigarettes.

Until the underlying community health factors like poverty and education are addressed, disparities in cancer outcomes will persist, according to Shauntice Allen, PhD, assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health. She also discussed how health systems and providers can contribute to efforts to improve community health.

Despite the abundance of new drugs that have been approved recently and the promising clinical trials of other novel therapies, multiple myeloma remains incurable, explained Shaji Kumar, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. However, he believes that with better options for early intervention and personalized therapies, researchers are on a path to curing the disease.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, held March 23-25, 2017, in Orlando, FL, Gregory J. Riely, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, spoke about the what, when, and how of biomarker testing in non-small cell lung cancer.

On the second day of the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), Kilian E. Salerno, MD, of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, walked the audience through updates to the NCCN Guidelines, explaining clinical situations in which radiation is indicated, appropriate targets of radiation treatment, and optimal approaches for minimizing toxicity.

Recent research has shown the potential of immunotherapy treatments for treating lung cancer, explained Matthew Gubens, MD, MS, assistant clinical professor of thoracic oncology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr Gubens also spoke about oncologists’ hopes for using immuno-oncology agents in combination with one another or with chemotherapy.

The unique cancer burden among Asian Americans calls for a multifaceted strategy to address these disparities, according to Moon S. Chen Jr, PhD, MPH, professor of hematology and oncology at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and principal investigator of The National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities.

While multigene panels are extremely important in precision cancer care, high levels of variance and insufficient insurance coverage are significant barriers to rapid adoption, according to Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH, from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

At the 22nd Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, held March 23-25, 2017, in Orlando, FL, policy researchers with interest in cancer care disparities discussed the source of existing disparities and how they can be successfully addressed.

Four panelists and 2 moderators discussed the issues surrounding cancer and healthcare in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election during the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 21st Annual Conference.

John A. Thompson, MD, co-director of the Melanoma Clinic at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, highlighted the major points of his melanoma talk at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s 21st Annual Meeting, including the FDA approval of new drugs and the development of new viral therapies.

There are a number of lessons oncologists have learned as the population of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age grow older, said Lee Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, chief of Division of Hematology Oncology and professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

While these "generic" biologicals have been deemed to have the potential to create competition and result in healthcare savings-although not to the extent of generic products-technical issues with manufacturing these products have troubled drug manufacturers.