CANCER 2009 REPORT
CANCER CONFERENCE A RESOUNDING SUCCESS
CANCER 2009, the International Cancer Conference took place in the Institute of Molecular Medicine, St James’s Hospital and Trinity College Dublin from 13th – 15th May 2009. Opening the Conference, Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, T.D. emphasised the importance of the Cancer Control Programme and encouraged greater integration and more co-ordination of services. Minister Harney also said “We must be more pro-active in the area of screening for cancer, particularly in regard to colorectal screening.”
Prof Mark Lawler, Chairperson CANCER 2009, Ms Mary Harney T.D Minister for Health and Children and Mr Ian Carter, CEO St James’s Hospital at the Opening of CANCER 2009
Professor Tom Keane, Interim Director of the National Cancer Control Programme stressed that “One of the key priorities of cancer control is the creation of new knowledge and the subsequent transfer of this knowledge from the laboratories to the bedside. In order for this transfer to be most effective, we need to adopt best practice and we need an integrated system driven by best practice at primary care level. This will allow the facilitation of early diagnosis for the major cancers through availability of rapid access clinics.”
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| Ms Mary Harney TD Minister for Health and Children | Prof Tom Keane, Interim Director National Cancer Control Programme address the conference |
Over 270 delegates registered for the Conference and heard from opinion leaders on areas as diverse as cancer strategy, cancer biology, health economics, cancer biology, translational medicine, risk factors for cancer, molecular medicine, radiotherapy, clinical trials, molecular imaging and cancer nursing
Prof Mark Lawler, Chairperson CANCER 2009, Dr John Kennedy, Consultant Oncologists, St James’s Hospital; Ms Mary Harney T.D Minister for Health and Children Prof Ken O Byrne Consultant Oncologists, St James’s Hospital; Prof John Reynolds Professor of Surgery St James’s Hospital and Trinity College Dublin and Regional Director , Cancer Services.
Speaking at the conference Professor Ralph DeVere White of the UC Davis Cancer Centre in the US said, ‘Cancer care services can no longer be delivered effectively by any one specialist because it’s too complicated and it’s too expensive. The full range of services from prevention, diagnosis right through to end of life issues must all be managed in a coordinated team science fashion. This is best achieved when we have well established centres with resources and these centres ultimately must have a line of access out to the general public. He said “it’s only when we have effective coordinated interaction between individuals of different scientific persuasions that new ideas emerge. And in this respect I believe the establishment of eight centres in Ireland can be very effective.”
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| Dr Paul Browne, Chairperson All Ireland Cooperative Oncology Research Group emphasises the importance of Cancer Clinical trials | Prof Ralph DeVere White, UC Davis, California addresses CANCER 2009 |
Professor Jane Wardle of University College London, reviewed the evidence linking obesity and cancer and concluded that there can no longer be any doubt that excess body weight increases cancer risk. “With high and rising rates of obesity in Ireland, as in the rest of the world, cancer rates are likely to rise. Many public health organisations are looking for lessons learned from tackling smoking”. Professor Wardle argued that “the similarities between the two indicate that strategies such as public education, health professional endorsement, and environmental modifications to make healthy choices easier, will be needed to turn the tide of obesity”. “Support from the Irish Cancer Society and the cancer community to tackle this preventable cause of cancer will be critical to the success of the campaign” she said.
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| Prof Aziza Shad, Lombardi Cancer Centre Washington, USA speaking on childhood cancer | Prof Pierre Chambon, delivering the Eurolife Distinguished Lecture at CANCER 2009 |
Addressing the cost of cancer treatment at the conference, Professor David Khayat from the French National Cancer Institute, said, “There are many inequalities in cancer, inequality of risk, of access to diagnosis, of access to care of quality care, and finally a final outcome which is chance of death. The experience in France has shown that there is a one to six times difference in cancer mortality according to where you live in the French territory. Among the issues, access to innovative drugs is critically important. When we look at the cost of cancer drugs, it is only 19% of the total costs which is again in the average of the cost of drugs used for any other major disease. A recent study by the Stockholm School of Economics have demonstrated that the uptake of these new drugs are responsible for the greatest improvement in survival for cancer patients in all developed countries, underlying again the fact that these drugs are very useful. Finally, innovative drugs spend is only 0.5% of the total expenditure on a disease, cancer, that represents 30% of deaths, 40% of premature deaths in France and these drugs are having a significant effect on reducing the mortality and morbidity of this disease”
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