The UAE is determined to bring down cancer mortality rates by nearly 18 per cent by 2021 in line with the country’s national healthcare agenda, said senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) at a key event in Dubai.

The event, which was supported by AstraZeneca, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, shed light on cancer incidences in the UAE, accounting for 15 per cent of annual deaths.

Officials from the MoHAP’s National Committee along with international industry leaders addressed key guidelines for cancer management in the UAE and also discussed the latest advancements in lung cancer treatment options for patients at the event organised in Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel.

The officials put spotlight on the new hope that immunotherapy brings to patients, the evolving era of Immuno-oncology and how Immunotherapy is fitting within the current treatment landscape for the management of lung cancer patients.  

Dr Muna AlKuwari, the director of specialised healthcare department at the ministry said: "Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality amongst UAE nationals and the third amongst the expatriate community. New global cancer data suggests that in 2018, the lung cancer burden has risen as the most common cancer with 2.094 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths, becoming the leading cause of death globally."

"These are alarming statistics, ones that reflect our continued efforts to work towards achieving the UAE’s vision which is focused on reducing cancer mortality rates by 2021. We are glad to be participating in leading discussions that help place prevention programs at the forefront of the treatment process," she added.

According to her, the Immuno-Oncology treatment can offer significant benefits to lung cancer patients, including those for whom other treatments are ineffective.

Some patients with advanced lung cancer have benefited greatly from immunotherapies, experiencing durable remissions and prolonged survival.  According to the Pacific trial, there was a significant increase in survival by reducing the risk of death by 32 per cent, she added.  

Leading experts at the event pointed out that lung cancer was one of the most common causes of cancer mortality globally, responsible for nearly 1 in 5 cancer-related deaths, or an estimated 1.6 million people.  

Immunotherapy represents a major advancement for lung cancer patients. Recent advancements in immunotherapy demonstrate an overall survival benefit for patients with unresectable, stage III non-small cell lung cancer following chemoradiation therapy.

Prof Solange Peters, the elected president of Esmo for 2020-2021, and head of the Medical Oncology Service, Chair of Thoracic Oncology at the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, said: "More than 100 years after William B. Coley, MD, used bacterial toxins to goad the immune system into recognizing cancer cells as foreign to the body and mount an immune response to go after and kill them, the recognition of immunotherapy as a powerful anticancer therapy is finally being realized."

"Today, immunotherapy for the treatment of a variety of cancers is rapidly evolving, from therapies that nonspecifically stimulate the immune system to more targeted ones that activate individual components of the immune system, increasing efficacy of the treatment while decreasing toxicity," he stated.

"Immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer care. Clearly, immunotherapy is already part of routine care for patients with advanced, but also stage III non-small cell lung cancer," said Prof Peters.

When lung cancer is detected early, it is often because of tests that were being done for other medical conditions. In the UAE, approximately 4,500 new cases of cancer are reported in a year, he added.

Peter Raouf, AstraZeneca’s Gulf Oncology Business Unit Director & MEA Oncology Strategy Lead, said: "Patients remain at the core of everything we do. That is why, at AstraZeneca, we are passionate creating partnerships with the public and private sector to focus on supporting patients’ unmet needs."

"We seek to provide new therapies such as immuno-oncology to advance the care of cancer patients in the UAE and the wider region. Having this latest immuno-oncology modality means we will be able to help more patients," he noted.

"We will continue to drive our efforts to change the paradigm of cancer treatment by focusing on immuno-oncology and provide better treatment options in the UAE and the region as a whole," he added.

AstraZeneca, he stated, is prioritizing lung cancer research to address the significant unmet need for treatments at every stage of the disease continuum. "Our focus is primarily on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which accounts for 80 to 85 percent of all lung cancer cases globally," he added.-TradeArabia News Service