In the feature article of this newsletter, breast cancer experts from Australia and New Zealanddiscuss recent progress, on-going studies and future strategies of breast cancer research in their region.
Australia and New Zealand have some of the highest incidences of breast cancer in the world. Despite their relatively small populations spread over large and often remote areas, they have played an important part in many practice-changing breast cancer trials. Faced with some of these high incidences of breast cancer, clinicians are all too aware of the need to implement the findings of such research and make the highest standards of care available to all patients. Australia and New Zealand have a strong track record in clinical trials accrual, proving that distance from the rest of the world is no barrier to successful research leadership and partnership. Like researchers worldwide, investigators in Australia and New Zealand are developing strategies to evolve from the conduct of large adjuvant trials to smaller, molecular subtype-specific breast cancer trials.
In 2019, BIG celebrated its 20th anniversary and organised numerous events to mark this milestone. For the past two decades, BIG and its member groups have been conducting global clinical trials and research programmes to find better treatment against breast cancer. Numerous BIG trials and programmes are considered to be landmark, contributing to significant breakthroughs that pave the way to more personalised treatment of breast cancer.
In April 2019, BIG and the North American Breast Cancer Group (NABCG) – a network of major US and Canadian-based research groups supported by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) – organised two patient workshops: one in New York and one in Brussels. Breast cancer patients (men and women) shared their experience and expressed their thoughts about participating in clinical trials on de-escalation of breast cancer treatments.
On 8 November 2019, Prof David Cameron began his term as new Chair of BIG. He succeeds BIG co-Founder Prof. Martine Piccart, who will stay active as Immediate Past Chair and President of BIG against breast cancer, the philanthropy unit of BIG.
Thanks to the precious contribution of BIG’s 57 collaborative member groups constituting the network, this issue also gives you a peek at some of their activities, including both their own trials and those run under the BIG umbrella.
Finally, an overview of all the clinical studies and trials run within the BIG network is provided.
We hope you will enjoy the reading! |
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