Leaders
in Cancer Prevention Convene: Propose Course of Action
to Increase Awareness that Cancer Can Be Prevented
The
Cancer Prevention Working Group (CPWG), a consortium
of leading oncologists, researchers and patient advocates,
convened its 2001 meeting on November 16th and 17th
in Washington, DC, to discuss future directions in the
emerging field of chemoprevention. Andrew Dannenberg,
MD, represented New York Weill Cornell Medical Center
at the CPWG meeting, which brought together physicians
and cancer prevention advocates from the National Cancer
Institute, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Arizona Cancer
Center, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Howard University Cancer
Center, Washington Cancer Institute, Lurie Cancer Center
of Northwestern University, Weill Medical College of
Cornell University, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, the
Cancer Research Foundation of America, the American
Association for Cancer Research, the American Academy
of Family Physicians and the American Association of
Health Plans, among others.
The
group addressed current barriers to implementing cancer
prevention practices and proposed a call to action to
increase awareness of the importance of cancer prevention
among the public and healthcare professionals and to mobilize
them to actively participate in bettering health outcomes
for all Americans.
Participants
in the CPWG meeting attributed the lack of awareness to
the prevalence of conflicting messages about cancer prevention
– messages that confuse the public and physicians alike.
To overcome these barriers, the CPWG proposed the development
of a “National Cancer Prevention Education Program” to
increase professional and public education on the need
for screening and risk assessment practices and to communicate
cancer prevention models that incorporate appropriate
use of chemopreventive agents.
“Cancer
is preventable. Each one of us can play a role by adopting
healthy, life- extending behaviors, using effective screening
procedures routinely and knowing our risk factors,” said
Dr. Bernard Levin, vice president for cancer prevention
at MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas. “We
also need to work closely with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to continue our research into identifying
new surrogate end points for clinical trials and new approval
standards for promising drugs to recognize the unique
balance of risk and benefit that these new agents represent.”
The
group also addressed reimbursement barriers to cancer
prevention, commenting that while many managed health
plans are ready to adopt chemoprevention strategies that
show their commitment to promoting overall health and
wellness of their members, not enough evidence of the
efficacy of these agents has been presented to drive reimbursement
standards. This may be attributed to current strict clinical
guidelines that impede cancer clinical studies.
Carolyn
Aldigé, president and founder of the Cancer Research
Foundation of America, commented that cancer is the end
result of a disease that evolves slowly over 15 to 20
years in a multi-step process. People are living longer
as a result of earlier detection and improved treatments.
New screening tools as well as numerous clinical trials
on proven and highly promising chemoprevention products
are turning cancer into an increasingly preventable and
manageable disease.
The
scientific community has made great strides in prevention
research over the past decade, from identifying new targets
for cancer prevention, such as the COX-2 enzyme, to initiating
widespread studies on the efficacy of chemopreventive
agents. The CPWG remains committed to furthering cancer
prevention research and to increasing cancer prevention
awareness and education among the public. In the coming
year, the CPWG participants will commit themselves to:
