Cancer Prevention Working Group Convenes to Discuss Speeding Cancer Prevention Agents to Patients
Panel
Moves Toward Consensus on Endpoints to Increase Cancer Prevention Research
The Cancer Prevention Working Group (CPWG) - a "think tank" of
medical experts and patient advocates dedicated to establishing
broader professional and public understanding of cancer prevention-
met in Washington, DC on November 1, 2002 to develop an action
plan to speed development and approval by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) of chemical agents to prevent cancer. The Cancer Research
and Prevention Foundation (CRPF) has assumed a central role in
bringing together CPWG participants to share independent perspectives
and champion common public health goals.
The working group consisted of
oncologists, researchers, regulators, and patient advocates and was moderated by
Bernard Levin, MD, vice president and professor of cancer prevention at MD
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The members discussed numerous issues and
agreement in several areas was reached:
- It was agreed that intraepithelial neoplasia (IEN) must
begin to be recognized and treated as a disease unto itself,
as well as a precursor to cancer
- All agreed that more Federal financial support for the FDA was needed to enable the agency to continue an open discussion with researchers and drug manufacturers
- Several researchers called for an increase of attention paid to post-marketing surveillance issues when discussing accelerated approval of drugs in cancer prevention
- All recognized the need for implementation of large-scale public and professional educational programs to increase understanding of cancer prevention
- The need for better coalition building in support of cancer prevention was stressed
- Members agreed that submitting articles on IEN to medical journals should be a priority
- The establishment of an FDA advisory committee to continually meet and review strides in cancer prevention was deemed integral to new drug development
