ESMO, the leading European professional organization for medical oncology, launched today the first eUpdates for its world renowned ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG)1.
eUpdates will be published on the ESMO website to provide CPG users with timely updates each time breakthrough necessitating rapid communication has occurred and when a Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (MCBS)2 score has been produced for a new European Medicines Agency (EMA) therapy or a new indication.
The ESMO CPG on Cutaneous Melanoma3 is the first to benefit from eUpdates including the MCBS grading of the PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab to reflect the rapidly growing body of evidence on the use of immunotherapy for this type of skin cancer and the recent approval of this therapy by the EMA. The second eUpdate for this CPG will provide practical diagnostic and treatment algorithms.
“eUpdates represent one of the most important innovations to the ESMO CPG,” said chair of the ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee4 George Pentheroudakis. “eUpdates will make the ESMO CPG an even more powerful and convenient tool for oncology professionals to remain up-to-date with the latest breakthroughs in oncology.”
The one page summary includes information on why an update was needed, recommendations for treatment, the ESMO MCBS scoring table, where applicable, as well as references. Elisabeth de Vries, chair of the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale Working Group and a member of the ESMO Guidelines Steering Committee, adds, “This is an important step forward to provide rapid insight in the magnitude of benefit of newly registered drugs for physicians and their patients.”
ESMO will produce an MCBS score for all new therapies approved after January 1, 2016 for patients with solid tumors in new or updated ESMO CPGs. “Thanks to the introduction of the eUpdates, even if a CPG is not due to be updated based on the regular development course, clinicians will be immediately alerted of the new EMA approved therapy with the related ESMO-MCBS score, including summary trial, efficacy and toxicity data,” added Pentheroudakis. “This information is highly significant in order to help both physicians and patients investigate therapeutic options and rationalize everyday clinic decisions, as well as health authorities in devising viable and equitable cancer care plans.”
In 2016, ESMO will release a total of 11 new and updated CPGs, with an improved format which includes standardized treatment management algorithms and flow-charts, personalized medicine synopsis tables and a MCBS scores for new therapies/indications approved by the EMA.
The first CPGs integrating an MCBS score for newly EMA approved indications will be published in a supplement to the October issue of Annals of Oncology5. Printed copies of the supplement containing updated CPG will be distributed from the ESMO booth during the ESMO 2016 Congress in October.
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References:
1 Developed by groups of international experts who formulate recommendations based on evidence-based medicine with a multidisciplinary perspective on cancer treatment, ESMO CPG supports oncology professionals in their daily clinical decisions. All ESMO CPGs are openly available on the ESMO website for the greater benefit of the oncology community. http://esmo.org/Guidelines
2 The ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) is a standardized, generic, validated approach to stratify the magnitude of clinical benefit that can be anticipated from anti-cancer therapies. Developed by the European Society for Medical Oncology, this tool aims to assist oncology clinicians in evaluating the most effective anti-cancer medicines for their patients. The scale is applied to new anti-cancer drugs approved by the EMA after January 1, 2016. http://esmo.org/Policy/Magnitude-of-Clinical-Benefit-Scale
3 http://www.esmo.org/Guidelines/Melanoma/Cutaneous-Melanoma/eUpdate-Treatment-Recommendations
4 http://esmo.org/About-Us/Who-We-Are/Guidelines-Committee
5 http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/suppl_5.toc (Available from 9/23/16)
(Credit: AlphaGalileo)
