39,400 people registered to ASCO in 2018 with a common goal of expanding the reach of precision medicine.
From clinical standpoint, there were couple of good developments, just to name a few,
- Trial Assigning Individualized Options for Treatment (Rx), or TAILORx trial, finds most women with early breast cancer do not benefit from chemotherapy.
- Merck showed impressive late-stage trial results that posted increased survival rates in patients with lung cancer.
- Clinical Trial to Assess the Importance of Nephrectomy (CARMENA) study showed that many patients with advanced kidney cancer can avoid surgery to remove the kidney, without compromising survival.
- Circulating Cell-Free Genome Atlas (CCGA) suggests that blood tests analyzing free-floating or cell-free DNA are able to detect early-stage lung cancer.
From business standpoint, Massive Bio had a stellar year — we conducted 40 meetings in 4 days with Contract Research Organizations (CROs), providers, healthcare technology companies, tumor profiling companies, physicians and patient engagement platforms. We have expanded our current business relationships and added many new ones. It is quite rewarding to see how enabling of precision oncology regardless of geography and financial stability came a long way in the last 4 years with the leadership of Massive Bio through our virtual tumor board and clinical trial matching and eligibility screening platforms. It is now time to get back to work and further push on democratizing oncology care.
Finally, I am not only optimistic for Massive Bio, but I am also optimistic for the cancer community as a whole because I do believe that with the leadership of Dr. Skip Burris, newly elected ASCO President for 2019-2020 term, we are off to new heights to advance cancer research and solve complex problems.
Selin Kurnaz, PhD,
Co-founder and CEO of Massive Bio
