Global Healthcare leader, Merck (NYSE:MRK), also known as MSD outside the United States and Canada,hosted a series of cancer immunotherapy media workshops at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2016 annual congress that took place on 9th- 10th October in Copenhagen, Denmark.
As a part of ESMO 2016 annual congress activities, MSD welcomed medical and media experts from across the Middle East to discuss the future of immunotherapy in addressing the urgency of reducing the cancer burden and improving outcome in the Middle East. The two-day media workshop was organized for to communicate media professionals with recent updates to increase their understanding of oncology and its management, in the effort to raise awareness about the different health issues of oncology patient.
Dr. Ahmad Yosry, MSD's Medical Director of Oncology for the Middle East region said, "We recognize that the media is one of our most important allies in the effort to raise awareness of the breakthrough treatment innovations to help extend and improve the lives of people with cancer. For this reason, we strive to work with the media professionals to produce accurate, insightful and informative knowledgethat will resonate with the public."
Media professionals, journalists and Health Care Professionals (HCP) speakers from Lebanon, Jordan, UAE, KSA, Egypt and Iraq attended the workshop and took part in a global press conference with international media &health care professionals from across the globe to discuss new updates and findings. Participants also attended the ESMO Congress and initiated interviews with doctors and international speakers from various oncology disciplines.
"Immunotherapy is a radically promising development and a great added value for the existing cancer treatments, since it has succeeded to overcome tumors that both chemical and biological treatments couldn't," said Dr. Sana Al Sukhun, consultant in medical oncology/hematology and president of Jordan's society of oncologists.
Dr. Yasser Abd El Kader, professor of oncology at the faculty of medicine at Cairo University, said: "The development of medical services in our region requires from us, medical specialists, to collaborate, share our experiences and combine our efforts for the benefit of our patients. The cure from cancer isn't impossible and the existence of a new treatment such as immunotherapy is increasing the hopes of healing or even taking full control of the disease."
Helping people fighting cancer is our passion, supporting accessibility to up to date cancer medicine is our commitment, and pursing research in immuno-oncology is our focus to potentially bring new hope to people with cancer," continuedDr. Yosry, "We hope that the discussions held at the workshop will help provide health care professionals and patients with greater insight into the treatments available and will facilitate access to better treatment and care for cancer patients."
The media workshop facilitated dialogue on current scientific developments and addressed several topics including:
- Cancer treatments available and the current gaps
- Immunotherapy and its new development including the potential and future of immunotherapy;
- Discuss the purpose and updates of clinical trials;
- Identify the patient and who will benefit most from immunotherapy and the role of biomarkers in achieving this selection;
- Cost-effective approaches (such as biomarker section which provides better results cost effectively) for immunotherapy to help achieve best clinical outcomes.
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