My takeaways from a momentous week in cancer history

You know that feeling when you’ve just lived through something momentous and you look back and can’t quite believe it? That’s how I feel about the past week. At ESMO on Saturday, many of us became emotional as we watched experts seeing the results from the DESTINY-Breast03 trial in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer for the first time. For women with this disease, these data will potentially change their experience and outcomes.

I came into this role shortly after ESMO four years ago, and during that time, we’ve celebrated some incredible successes as an Oncology team – and we’ve also faced some unexpected challenges. Recently I’ve been struck by one recurring theme: the power of collaboration. How working together, and building off of each other’s strengths, have direct effects on transforming the lives of patients.

Three things that have happened in September alone underscore this powerful lesson:

1. Bringing together diverse perspectives: On September 15,?we co-hosted a lively debate with Denis Horgan, Ph.D and the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine, moderated by?Carolin Roth , on the future of cancer screening and how we can make screening universal. Conversations like these are so important. Speakers Susan Galbraith ,?Harpal Kumar ,?Sam Janes and?Ebba Hallersj? Hult shared perceptive insights not just on the importance of universal screening, but on how we might address barriers that stand in the way. All speakers agreed that the earlier cancer is diagnosed and treated, the better chance we have of curing patients.
2. Combining forces to accelerate science: On Saturday, Javier Cortes Castan presented possibly practice-changing results in breast cancer. From the reaction of the scientific community, I’m most excited about what these data could mean for breast cancer patients. This thrilling moment was thanks to our incredible partnership with Daiichi Sankyo (DS) which allows us to accelerate remarkable medicines together. For so many of us, this shared achievement has also been bittersweet. My dear friend and colleague José Baselga should have been with us to celebrate. He passionately believed in this partnership with DS. I know that Susan Galbraith , Cristian Massacesi, M.D. , Sunil Verma and many others are continuing this legacy as we strive to become breast cancer’s fiercest opponent.
3. Building alliances to transform patient outcomes: And lastly, earlier today, Mohit Manrao participated in the World Economic Forum Sustainable Development Impact Summit in which the Lung Ambition Alliance (of which AZ is a founding member) and the World Economic Forum convened the first meeting of the Global Lung Cancer Collaboration. More than 30 organizations came together to discuss how we can transform outcomes in lung cancer and increase health system sustainability. To me, this is an important affirmation of the value and necessity of public-private partnerships to speed our collective progress to reduce premature mortality from lung cancer.

The past year and a half may have physically separated us, but it also helped strengthen other bonds and reinforced the need for continued and even improved collaboration across healthcare. Let’s continue that spirit as we tackle the biggest challenges in oncology, strive to redefine cancer care and continue to change more patients’ lives in the years ahead.