About the Conference

Turning the Tide Against Cancer Through Sustained Medical Innovation, a national conference to consider the status and future of innovation in cancer research and care, was hosted by the Personalized Medicine Coalition, American Association for Cancer Research, and Feinstein Kean Healthcare. The conference discussion highlighted key trends in cancer science and clinical care and began to identify and build support for policy pathways to accelerate progress and improve patient care in an era of healthcare cost containment.

The Need
As noted in the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2011, advances in science and technology have brought us to a pivotal juncture with the potential for significant gains in the near future. At the same time, rising healthcare spending and deficit reduction efforts are forcing policymakers to focus on ways to control expenditures, often through limiting the use of new medical technologies, which are often targeted solely on the basis of their high cost without consideration of demonstrated clinical value in reducing disease burden and improving quality of life.

Recognizing the growing role of personalized medicine in prevention, detection, and treatment, it is increasingly important to understand the cancer care ecosystem; the dynamics of rapid change in the standard of care; and opportunities for accurately defining and measuring the value of tests, treatments, and technologies.

Cancer continues to take an enormous physical, emotional, and financial toll on patients and their families and caregivers. As researchers continue to gain a better understanding of the molecular underpinnings of the more than 200 diseases collectively called cancer, they are better able to develop targeted approaches to more effectively treat individual patients.

Conference Focus
The conference focused on three broad areas to advance solutions:

  • A changing cancer care ecosystem: Scientific advances, emerging evidence-generation tools, the changing role of the patient in research, and how the cancer community is adapting.
  • Valuing innovation and progress: Defining value in cancer care, stakeholder perceptions of value, and current approaches to measuring value.
  • Potential paths forward: Potential solutions to the identified challenges in the areas of data liquidity, empowering patients, and measuring value in cancer care.

View the conference agenda.

The Ecosystem of Stakeholders
The conference brought together 200+ leaders from across the cancer community to discuss the emerging science, policies, and business environment necessary for sustaining innovation and driving our evolution toward personalized cancer care.

PMC: Personalized Medicine Coalition AACP: American Association for Cancer Research Feinstein Kean Healthcare