8 minute read
NEWS IN BRIEF
The APCCC took place on 29 – 31 August 2019 in Basel, Switzerland.
The Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) was initiated to provide a forum to discuss and debate current questions on the clinical management of men with advanced prostate cancer, with a special focus on these unclear situations . Two days of the conference are dedicated to high-level presentations, discussions, and debates to summarize and conceptualize the available literature and evidence .
The conference concludes with voting by an interdisciplinary expert panel on pre-defined consensus questions targeting areas of clinical relevance . Following the conference, a manuscript with these expert recommendations is published in a peer-reviewed journal . A number of ANZUP members including ANZUP Chair Ian Davis, Bertrand Tombal, Chris Sweeney, Michael Hofman, Declan Murphy and Mark Frydenberg were involved in the scientific program and join the discussion with fellow prostate cancer experts from around the world .
APCCC focusses on idealised situations, but in the end provides useful expert consensus recommendations particularly for areas where no clear evidence exists to guide practice. Ian Davis ANZUP Chair
You can learn more about the program online: https://www.apccc.org/apccc2019.html.
ANZUP & PCFA Partnership Grant
With the renewal of our Memorandum of Understanding for our PCFA ANZUP Partnership Grant for a further three years, ANZUP called to our membership for prostate cancer concepts .
An array of ideas and concepts were submitted and in order to reach the shortlist we received feedback from a multidisciplinary panel with the end goal aim of becoming an ANZUP sponsored Protocol .
The shortlisted applicants presented their concepts on Tuesday 26 November 2019 in Melbourne, and it was great to see so many enthusiastic members and creative and interesting concepts .
Congratulations to the shortlist: David Wetherell, Kate Mahon, Anthony Joshua, Shahneen Sandhu, Craig Gedye, and Louise Emmett with Matthew Roberts .
USANZ NZ Section Meeting
In October, ANZUP CEO Marg McJannett and Shomik Sengupta attended the USANZ New Zealand Section Meeting in Christchurch to provide an update on ANZUP’s trials, activities and performance for the year . The Genito Urinary Meeting, which was chaired by ANZUP Board member Nick Buchan, took place on the first day of the conference, and along with Shomik presentation on behalf of ANZUP, Nicky Lawrence also presented on the ANZUP Trials ENZAMET results .
2020 Concept Development Workshops
Face to face Concept Development Workshops (CDW) for each of the cancers ANZUP focuses on will be held in the second quarter of 2020 .
Any ANZUP member is welcome to submit concepts to the multidisciplinary Concept Development Working Groups to review and receive feedback from medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons, nurses, statisticians, allied health, psycho oncologists and health economists .
Although concepts can be brought to the diseasespecific subcommittees at any time, CDWs are an increasingly important part of ANZUP’s core business and most new concepts are discussed at one in the first instance . The workshops provide a platform to give and receive invaluable feedback, enabling research to be further developed into high quality proposals .
The ANZUP concept development process:
IDEA
CDW •New idea or concept •Complete concept outline
•Reviewed by MDT •Written feedback
• SAC endorsement based on subcommittee recommendations
• Working group for development, mentoring and support
SAC
WORKING GROUP
2020 CDW dates:
•Quality of Life – 1 April •Renal Cell – 2 April •Germ Cell – 7 April •BUP – 30 April •Prostate – 1 May
Food for thought was on the menu at the Best of GU Evening Symposium, held in Adelaide on Wednesday 6 November. Adelaide’s GU oncology community dined out on the latest in uro-oncology, radiation oncology, medical oncology and nuclear medicine from experts in the field.
The evening commenced with a great presentation from A/Prof Catherine Paterson on the un-met needs of men with uro-genital cancer from. Technology was on our side and we were fortunate enough to then Zoom in Dr Alison Birtle from the UK, talking about connecting trial networks to study uncommon malignancies, and lessons learnt from the POUT trial.
Prof Henry Woo, who also chaired the Symposium, presented highlights from the numerous talks that Prof Kelly Parsons gave at #ANZUP19. A/Prof Louise Emmett gave a comprehensive update on theranostics in prostate cancer, and the evening concluded with A/Prof Nick Brook talking about the #ANZUP2020 ASM being held in Adelaide from 19-21 July 2020.
Thank you to the presenters, attendees and a special thanks also to our sponsors Astellas, AstraZeneca, Ipsen and MSD.
The videos from the event are also available to watch online here.
ANZUP Preceptorship 2019
On 29 and 30 November, 39 trainees came together for a day and a half of intense learning under the guidance of 8 ANZUP Preceptors and Convenor Professor Eva Segelov.
Consistently rated ‘above and beyond’ expectations, the 2019 Prostate Cancer Preceptorship didn’t disappoint. With most attendees citing career development as their motivation for taking part, the pathways small group discussions, seminal papers, quiz the expert sessions and interactive multidisciplinary nature of the course provided excellent take home value.
Participants prepared papers in advance with awards for the best presentations during the Preceptorship given to James Churchill, Sarah Latham, Olivia Perelini, Alice Minhinnick & Alistair Wickham.
Thank you to Convenor Eva Segelov and Assistant Convenor Cameron McLaren for helping put together this expert, interactive program. Also many thanks to the Preceptors Venu Chalasani, Louise Emmett, Amy Hayden, Jarad Martin, Shahneen Sandhu, Jeremy Shapiro and Henry Woo who gave up their time to ensure another fantastic workshop.
Thanks also to our 2019 sponsors Astellas, AstraZeneca, BMS, Ipsen, and Janssen – we could not run this important program without their support.
To stay up to date with future learning and development opportunities, visit www.anzup.org.au and follow us on Twitter @ANZUPtrials.
Valuable experience being able to meet with different specialties, gain appreciation of how they contribute to GU cancers and how we got to where we are. The preceptors were inspirational and simply brilliant. Extremely impressed with their professionalism, knowledge and adaptability to discussions. Thank you for a great opportunity.
Well done on putting this together to encourage and foster the next generation of prostate docs.
ENZAMET - Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL)
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a randomised phase 3 trial of enzalutamide with standard first line therapy for metastatic, hormonesensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC).
Health-related quality of life was a key secondary outcome in the ANZUP-led ENZAMET trial .
HRQoL of participants in the ENZAMET trial was evaluated using three measures developed by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the EuroQol Group to determine the different treatment effects of the two participating patient groups .
The following questionnaires were used to comprehensively assess HRQoL:
• The EORTC Core Quality of Life questionnaire (QLQ-C30) a general measure of HRQoL used across cancer populations, includes five functional scales (physical, role, cognitive, emotional, and social), three symptom scales (fatigue, pain, and nausea and vomiting), and a global health and qualityof-life scale . Symptoms commonly reported by patients (dyspnoea, appetite loss, sleep disturbance, constipation, and diarrhoea), are assessed along with the financial impact of the disease and treatment .
• The EORTC Prostate Cancer Module (QLQ-PR25) asks 25 questions to assess HRQoL specific to men with prostate cancer . It includes rating scales assessing urinary and bowel symptoms, hormone treatment symptoms, sexual function, and use of incontinence aids .
• The EQ-5D-5L questionnaire is a standardised, selfrated measure of health status designed to provide a score for use in evaluation of the economic costs of the treatment . It provides a descriptive classification based on self-assessment of 5 categories: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression using a 5 level rating scale .
ENZAMET STUDY CO-CHAIR PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER SWEENEY WITH THE HRQOL POSTER AT ESMO
Conclusions
The addition of enzalutamide (versus non-steroidal anti-androgen therapy (NSAA: bicalutamide, nilutamide, or flutamide)) to testosterone suppression saw:
•Global health and quality of life was maintained;
• Improved deterioration-free survival (defined as the time from when the patient was randomised to their first significant worsening of physiological signs and symptoms, or death);
o The early impairments in specific aspects of
HRQoL did not outweigh the subsequent benefits of delayed clinical progression;
• Deterioration-free survival benefits at 3 years were smaller with treatment with early docetaxel than without it, however these difference were not beyond the play of chance .
• Is an appropriate option for men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer starting testosterone suppression alone .
For men who are candidates for docetaxel treatment when starting testosterone suppression:
• Longer follow-up is needed to determine if the delays in disease progression and in the time to clinical deterioration with enzalutamide and concurrent early docetaxel treatment also results in improved overall survival beyond 3 years .
The results of this study were presented as a Poster Discussion by Martin Stockler and exhibited for the duration of the Congress at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Barcelona on Sunday 29 September 2019 .
