Society J F Wilkinson Lecture - "Recent evolution of immunotherapy in colorectal cancer"

5.30 pm
Coffee and registration

6.00 - 7.00 pm
Professor Mark Saunders, Consultant Clinical Oncologist, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Learning points:

• There are an increasing number of treatments that are able to manipulate a patient’s immune system for therapeutic gain  
   
• Immunotherapies, such as checkpoint inhibitors nearly failed in colorectal cancer until, perhaps by chance, it became evident that certain subsets benefit much more than others.
   
•  Single agent and combination immunotherapies are now used routinely in deficient mismatch repair colorectal cancer and to put in bluntly, are a “game-changer”
   
•  Immune manipulation is now being used in other, much more common subsets, to hopefully benefit a much wider group of patients
   
•  But, how long do we give them and can the world afford them?

 
Dr Saunders' main area of interest is running clinical trials evaluating novel agents with associated response/toxicity biomarkers and radiology (colorectal cancer, anal cancer, stomach chemoradiotherapy and pseudomyxoma). He is a member of a number of National Cancer Research Network (NCRN) CRC committees and works with SchAAR to prepare material for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

He has written a series of protocols for clinical trials that have been funded, completed and published. He chairs or is a member of a number of trial management groups and data-monitoring committees. He is also an advisor to Beating Bowel Cancer, a charity dedicated to raising awareness of bowel cancer, improving the quality of life of those affected and, ultimately, reducing deaths from bowel cancer.

All attendees will receive a CPD certificate - RCP credit applied for