ASCO 2021: Our Commitment to Treating Cancer in a Post-COVID World
At Sanofi, we believe patient care goes beyond developing medicines. Today more than ever, it’s critical to consider the entire patient journey and ensure everyone living with cancer has access to new treatments and innovations, regardless of where they live.
While inequity within the cancer and ageing communities has been evident for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated areas of unmet need within these demographics and brought into stark focus the reality of what happens when health systems buckle under the pressures of public health crises. There is an urgent need to think more holistically about how we can improve outcomes related to cancer.
As our global Sanofi organization prepares for the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting next month, I’m eager for the opportunity to reinforce our commitment across our areas of strategic focus within oncology, including multiple myeloma, skin, lung and breast cancers. As we convene with members of the global oncology community, I look forward to discussing how we can all work together to bridge the widening gaps throughout the patient care experience and create national cancer plans that are inclusive and representative of all, regardless of age or race.
To address the challenges associated with cancer and ageing that leaders throughout the global cancer community have identified, Sanofi launched When Cancer Grows Old™(WCGO) in 2020, a multiyear commitment to raising awareness of the burden of cancer and addressing the challenges in ageing and cancer through innovative collaborations, strategic funding and creative solutions. As our commitment continues, we are commissioning a first-of-its-kind study with support from leading global cancer organizations to assess what additional progress and investments are needed to ensure age-inclusive national cancer plans so that societies and systems worldwide are able to meet the convergence of ageing and cancer we anticipate by 2040.
Through our research, we discovered that even the most advanced countries cannot always identify the specific needs of older people with cancer or offer them individualized options for care. There remains an urgent need for personalized resources for older patients during cancer screenings, treatments and follow-up care, better data to support clinical decision-making, integrated multidisciplinary teams to cover the variety of complex health needs that many older patients have, and stronger support services to navigate the medical and psychosocial elements of the patient journey. This is also true for patients living with advanced forms of cancer, for whom limited treatment options currently exist.
As Naomi poignantly conveys through her experience, the patient journey with advanced diseases like metastatic breast cancer is complex and nuanced, and patients’ access to essential resources can vary widely depending on geography and other demographics. Sanofi is leading the way in calling for change because we believe it is incumbent upon societies to address these challenges, before they become an even greater public health crisis.
Stay tuned for more updates from ASCO, including a LinkedIn Live session featuring Sanofi leaders and a patient advocate on how we are accelerating research to address gaps in care where there is a high unmet need.