Recently published online ahead of print in the European Society for Medical Oncology’s (ESMO) flagship journal, Annals of Oncology*, an Article co-authored by 34 international lung cancer experts, sets out the results of a virtual consensus-building process on the management of EGFR mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).
Building on methodology developed by ESMO to guide cancer patient management during the COVID-19 pandemic, these present expert consensus statements ring in a new series of educational resources pioneered by ESMO.
Organized by ESMO and co-chaired by ESMO President Solange Peters (Lausanne, Switzerland) and Antonio Passaro (Milan, Italy), an ESMO Council member and Chair of its Press & Media Affairs Committee, the multidisciplinary panel of leading specialists, including VHIO’s Enriqueta Felip, Principal Investigator of our Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer Group, convened remotely to discuss the treatment landscape and emerging approaches against EGFR mutant NSCLC.
Tasked with compiling recommendations including supporting evidence on controversial topics surrounding the management of this particular tumor subtype, this expert group also counted on the participation of an EGFR-positive patient advocate, Jill Feldman, to include patient needs and perspectives in the development of the consensus statements.
Designed to steer oncologists in unmet areas of oncology, ESMO’s Expert Consensus Statements offer physicians orientation in aspects of oncology practice that are not yet covered in detail by ESMO’s current Clinical Practice Guidelines, or, in those areas where current evidence is insufficient to reliably inform treatment decision making until more robust data is available.
“Driven by deeper insights into the molecular biology and evolution of cancer, coupled with the stunning advances in precision oncology, we continue to collectively ring in more potent and effective targeted treatments and approaches against this disease,” said Enriqueta Felip, Head of the Thoracic Cancer Unit at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s (HUVH) Medical Oncology Department, which is led by VHIO’s Director and ESMO Past-President, Josep Tabernero.
She continued, “It is thanks to these tremendous efforts and the constant stream of new medicines and powerful treatment modalities rapidly entering the clinic, that we are gaining pace in improving outcomes for patients with EGFR–positive NSCLC. In certain scenarios however, some advances require more robust data to support oncologists’ decision making, and thus cannot be suitably covered in ESMO’s evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines.”
To bridge this gap, the aim of this present consensus was to develop recommendations on areas that are either not covered in detail in the current ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines, or where the available evidence to date is limited or conflicting.
Tackling several issues relating to the management of this patient population, four specific subject areas were covered by appointed working groups and respective chairs as follows: Tissue and biomarkers analyses (Chair: Keith Kerr, Aberdeen, UK); Early and locally advanced disease (Chair: Sanjay Popat, London, UK); Metastatic disease (Chair: Natasha Leighl, Toronto, Canada); Clinical Trial Design, patients’ perspective, miscellaneous (Chair: Fiona Blackhall, Manchester, UK).
In total, 29 consensus statements were developed focusing on the role of tissue biomarker analyses, treatment and follow-up approaches in the early-stage and metastatic disease settings, as well as the need to initiate specific molecular-driven and molecular-agnostic clinical studies in the future.
“By reporting findings from each panel discussion, outlining consensus recommendations and providing a summary of the supporting evidence this Special Article sheds light on current issues in cancer care, and offers physicians practical guidance on the management of this tumor subtype,” concluded Enriqueta Felip, a co-author of this study, and President of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology – SEOM (2021-2023).
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Reference:
*Passaro A, Leighl N, Blackhall F, Popat S, Kerr K, Ahn MJ, Arcila ME, Arrieta O, Planchard D, de Marinis F, Dingemans AM, Dziadziuszko R, Faivre-Finn C, Feldman J, Felip E, Curigliano G, Herbst R, Jänne PA, John T, Mitsudomi T, Mok T, Normanno N, Paz-Ares L, Ramalingam S, Sequist L, Vansteenkiste J, Wistuba II, Wolf J, Wu YL, Yang SR, Yang JCH, Yatabe Y, Pentheroudakis G, Peters S. ESMO expert consensus statements on the management of EGFR mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Ann Oncol. 2022 Feb 14:S0923-7534(22)00112-0. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2022.02.003. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35176458.
