Friends of Cancer Research

Congratulations to this year’s Ellen Sigal Advocacy Award honoree, Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, who has had an immense impact on cancer research and cancer care. We applaud her incredible leadership at The National Institutes of Health and look forward to continuing working with her to advance research for all. https://lnkd.in/eaXMhFmC 

We are honored to award this year’s Marlene A. Malek Public Service Award to Congressman Brett Guthrie. Congressman Guthrie has been a staunch advocate for #patients, advancing access and equity through crucial legislation. Thank you for your continued leadership! https://lnkd.in/etDwJubW 

🎉 Last week, we celebrated the incredible career of Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Surgery Branch. Hundreds of attendees both in-person and online came together to honor his pioneering in the development of effective immunotherapies for patients with advanced cancer. Former and current colleagues, trainees and patients were able to thank Dr. Rosenberg for his impact on the field and discuss the optimism they have for the future of cancer research because of his work.    Thank you to the Center for Excellence in Immunology for sponsoring, the organizers and to everyone who participated in this incredible symposium. 👏 Share your favorite photo if you attended or a memory you have with Dr. Rosenberg in the comments! National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH Clinical Center (CC), The National Institutes of Health

Meet our Advisory Advocate, Judith Fitzgerald! Judy is a breast cancer survivor, patient advocate, and a graduate of ProgressforPatients.org.  Hear her story about how she champions patient quality of life through dose optimization projects and ensures patient perspectives are represented in #clinicaltrials.  https://lnkd.in/ePXtydPA #ProgressforPatients 

🚀 A cross-industry collaboration is advancing RWD 🚀 The real world is an unpredictable place. It can be messy & confusing, full of challenges & uncertainties that have to be overcome before we can move forward with confidence & clarity toward our goals. The same is true of the #RealWorldData (RWD) generated throughout the patient journey. Before we can use these data elements as #RealWorldEvidence (RWE) for outcomes of interest, we have to answer some key questions. ❓What is actually in these datasets? ❓Are providers collecting sufficient data throughout the care journey? ❓How do we extract, aggregate, & analyze these high-value elements? ❓How can we be more consistent? These questions are too big & too complex for any one company to answer on their own. That’s why the non-profit Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) has convened an impressive coalition of data companies, life science companies, academic organizations, provider groups, & others to share their knowledge & resources in pursuit of effective cures. Since 2018, Friends has conducted a series of pilots designed to better understand the utility of #RWD & #RWE for research applications, starting with work to establish shared endpoint definitions & continuing with projects to evaluate the consistency of RWD & its potential to generate reliable, meaningful evidence. ⏩ The latest phase of this collaboration brings the industry closer than ever to understanding the reliability & consistency of RWD to be used in research applications, specifically in use cases related to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ⏩ In August, new research published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics found that RWD harmonized across sources to an aligned protocol demonstrated reasonable consistency in real-world response assessment. ⏩ In other words, oncologists treating patients in the real-world setting are documenting response to treatment on a regular frequency, & with enough clinical detail, to be useful for researchers, even though these oncologists & patients aren’t enrolled in clinical trials. ⏩ The study also shows that different data companies are processing information in a relatively consistent manner to produce consistent results despite some differences in proprietary methodologies. According to Andrew Belli, VP of Research at COTA: 💬 These results give further confidence in the use of real-world information to augment & enhance insights from traditional clinical trials. Researchers using RWD can gain access to broader & more inclusive datasets that are representative of actual populations of cancer patients, helping to ensure generalizability of results. 💬 We can't overstate the importance of this type of collaborative, forward-thinking research into advancing the use of RWD. We believe it is essential to take a leadership role in this ongoing conversation, & COTA is proud to be a part of the Friends community as well as other industry partnerships & collaborative organizations.

Thank you to everyone for joining us at the 28th Cancer Leadership Awards Celebration. It was a wonderful evening, recognizing our Cancer Leadership Honorees: Dr. Monica Bertagnolli and Congressman Brett Guthrie. Through the support of our incredible community, we are advancing our research and policy projects that aim to improve and harmonize biomarker diagnostics, real-world data, clinical trial eligibility criteria, cell and gene therapies, and more.   Together, we are paving the way for breakthroughs that can redefine cancer care and ultimately lead to better patient outcomes. Learn more about our work here: https://lnkd.in/e9gacTVi 

Older Americans deserve access to validated screening tools that can detect dozens of cancers earlier when they’re more treatable, but time is running out. That’s why Friends stands alongside the Prevent Cancer Foundation and 500+ organizations urging Congress to pass the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act before it’s too late.

Last week’s FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) meeting focused on the use of PD-1 inhibitors for treating HER2-negative gastric/GEJ adenocarcinoma and esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (#ESCC). The committee discussed the challenges of determining PD-L1 expression, which can lead to inconsistent treatment eligibility and patient outcomes. Additionally, the committee noted that while PD-L1 is a predictive #biomarker, clinical benefit is mainly seen in patients with high PD-L1 expression, raising concerns about the efficacy and toxicity of treatments for those with lower levels. The committee emphasized the need for harmonized testing approaches, robust data, and consistent guidelines to treatment decisions, ultimately influencing regulatory labeling and future clinical trial designs. Diagnostic harmonization is critical in #oncology drug development, with significant implications for patient care and treatment outcomes. Friends of Cancer Research has been driving efforts to improve biomarker testing and ensure consistency in findings for patients, including two research partnerships focused on identifying discordance in biomarker testing for TMB and HRD to improve testing moving forward. At our upcoming February 4, 2025 conference, “Advancing the Future of Diagnostics and Regulatory Innovations,” we will focus on topics that support improved diagnostic testing for patients. ➡️ Read the full blog post: https://lnkd.in/eDwqmbTh  ➡️ Register for our February diagnostics event: https://lnkd.in/e_nRAbE9

Meet Friends of Cancer Research #AdvisoryAdvocate, Ken Billett! Ken is a melanoma survivor, patient advocate, and a ProgressforPatients.org graduate. He’s focused on making sure #patient voices are heard in drug development. Tune in to hear how Ken’s stage IV melanoma diagnosis inspired his advocacy work and his mission to ensure patient voices are integral to the drug development process. #ProgressforPatients  https://lnkd.in/ey_vjAme 

Friends of Cancer Research applauds the recent FDA guidance “Diversity Action Plans to Improve Enrollment of Participants from Underrepresented Populations in Clinical Studies Guidance for Industry.” This crucial agency guidance will directly impact trials through advancing processes and trial designs that can support enrollment of representative patient populations. Friends submitted public comments that draw upon findings from a recent Friends’ white paper highlight four key considerations:  - Data to Support Setting Enrollment Goals  - Monitoring and Reporting Progress Towards Meeting Enrollment Goals  - Timing and Types of FDA Meetings to Discuss DAPs  - Public Posting of Key Information We appreciate the FDA's ongoing efforts to ensure that #clinicaltrials are inclusive and representative and look forward to continued collaboration to achieve these goals.  Read our full public comment here: https://lnkd.in/exhqhjCA #FDA #FriendsPC