OTHER NEWS ASCO Annual Meeting, 2-6 June, Chicago The first week of June saw attendees from around the globe gather in Chicago for the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting. Adopting an inclusive theme of “Making a Difference in Cancer Care With You”, this year’s meeting saw the convergence of clinicians, scientists, industry and patients alike to explore latest developments in the field – from practice-changing clinical trials to evolving approaches of personalised medicine in routine clinical care. The diverse programme offered opportunities to personally engage with latest research across all tumour types. Poster sessions and discussions offered unique insights from both junior and senior investigators. Wellattended oral abstract and plenary sessions highlighted particularly notable and practice-informing research. Scientific symposia and education sessions also made for a very busy few days. It was certainly a big year for GU oncology, in part due to the presentation and concurrent publication of the LATITUDE and STAMPEDE-abi studies, which investigated the role of abiraterone acetate in high-risk / metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer. These studies showed a significant benefit for abiraterone in addition to androgen deprivation therapy in this particular patient group. In addition, we saw presentation of notable studies in prostate, bladder and kidney cancer – in particular highlighting the benefit of immunotherapy. Trials in Progress poster sessions saw presentation of the ANZUP-sponsored ENZARAD and P3BEP trials, among a slew of other interesting posters including a genomic comparison of primary and metastatic germ cell tumours. The ASCO Annual Meeting remains a key meeting for networking and collaboration with colleagues from Australia, New Zealand and around the world. It allows us to discuss ideas for future collaborative studies, building 34 | ANZUP UPdate Spring 2017
on ANZUP’s strong track record for completed and ongoing clinical studies in GU cancers, with the aim of refining care and ultimately improving patient outcomes. We also took the opportunity of having investigators together at ASCO to hold an International Trial Steering Committee (ITSC) meeting for the ENZAMET and ENZARAD trials. This was very timely, with the recent completion of recruitment to ENZAMET and the imminent entry of EORTC sites for recruitment to ENZARAD. Data presented at ASCO for the STAMPEDE and LATITUDE studies also were relevant for considerations about ENZAMET, and the ITSC agreed that additional interim analyses should be added in case a positive signal might be able to be detected earlier. The ITSC also discussed ENZARAD recruitment logistics, future amendments, and translational issues relating to both studies. Upcoming meetings include the ESMO Congress (September 2017) in Madrid, Spain and ASCO GU Cancers Symposium (January 2018) in San Francisco, USA which will see presentation of exciting novel research in the ever-evolving field. DR ANIS HAMID GU Oncology Research Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
PETER GRIMISON AT ASCO