On November 6, 2017, ASCO and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a joint Geriatric Oncology Workshop aimed at improving the evidence base for treating the geriatric oncology population.
While more than 60% of cancers in the United States occur in people aged 65 and older, the evidence base for treating this population is sparse. Older adults are underrepresented in clinical trials, and trials designed specifically for older adults are rare. There is a growing need to improve the generation of evidence in this population.
In 2015, ASCO released a statement in the Journal of Clinical Oncology calling on federal agencies and the cancer research community to increase the enrollment of older adults in clinical trials and to use other strategies for collecting evidence in this population of patients.
The Geriatric Oncology Workshop has the following goals and objectives:
- To discuss the ASCO recommendations on improving the evidence base for treating older adults with cancer in response to a critical need identified by the Institute of Medicine.
- To discuss the use of clinical trial and research designs as well as infrastructure for generating evidence on older patients with cancer.
- To discuss the role of the FDA in incentivizing and requiring research involving older adults with cancer.
- To discuss strategies to increase clinicians’ recruitment of older adults with cancer to clinical trials.
- To discuss the utility of post marketing, “real world” data in generating data on safety outcomes in older adults with cancer.
The workshop will be held at FDA’s White Oak Campus in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is intended for a diverse group of stakeholders responsible for the screening, treating, and monitoring of geriatric oncology patients.
Register for the workshop at: www.surveymonkey.com/r/NovFDAGeriWkshp. ■
© 2017. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.
