Xinhuanet Beijing, November 10 (Gong Xiaoqian) From November 5 to 12, the 25th National Clinical Oncology Conference and 2022 CSCO Annual Conference were held in a combination of online and offline mode. During the period, Merck, as the world's leading biopharmaceutical company and one of the world's leading oncology companies, shared the latest clinical progress and research results in the field of oncology at the CSCO annual meeting.
During the meeting, Anna Tian, global senior vice president of Merck and president of Merck China, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet that cancer treatment is a difficult task and requires the participation of multiple parties to better improve patient access. For Merck, as long as there are patients fighting unremittingly against cancer, as long as there are doctors who are trying their best to save lives, as long as there are corners of the world where treatment options have not yet been reached, Merck will always fight for it.
With a sense of responsibility and urgency, we strive to explore innovative treatment options
Cancer is a serious threat to human health. In February this year, the National Cancer Center released the latest edition of national cancer statistics, detailing the burden of cancer in China in 2016. Data show that there are about 4.06 million new cancer cases and about 2.41 million deaths in the country a year.
"Behind these numbers are families suffering from disease." Anna Tian said, "We know that for cancer patients, the most lacking thing is time, if we can prolong the survival period, there may be new therapies, and patients will benefit from it." Merck has always been with a sense of responsibility and urgency to explore innovative treatment options. At present, there are 5 oncology products approved in China, with a total of 18 indications, covering 11 cancers, creating a very rich anti-tumor product pipeline. ”
In recent years, the emergence of tumor immunotherapy has changed the development pattern of the entire field of tumor treatment. As a global leader in cancer treatment, Merck has a large-scale tumor immunotherapy clinical research program, conducting more than 1,600 clinical trials for more than 30 types of cancer worldwide. In China, Merck's more than 80 oncology projects cover 20 cancer types, involving lung cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, gynecological tumors and other high-incidence cancers in China.
"So many clinical trials mean we have a huge amount of data, and at this year's CSCO Annual Meeting, we shared some long-term survival data in the fields of lung, head and neck and ovarian cancers, so that doctors around the world can understand the progress of these drugs and therapies as early as possible." Tian Anna introduced, "It is worth mentioning that we now see that the 7-year survival rate of some advanced ovarian cancer patients has reached 67%, while in the past, 70% of advanced ovarian cancer patients did not live for 5 years, which can be said to be a great improvement." ”
In addition, early detection and early treatment are important for long-term survival of cancer patients. According to reports, Merck is currently conducting more than 20 clinical studies for early-stage cancer, involving a variety of cancer types, including melanoma, lung cancer and triple-negative breast cancer, among which its indications for triple-negative breast cancer were also officially approved in China earlier this month, opening Merck's new journey of tumor immunotherapy for breast cancer in China.
"I am full of hope for our entire product line in the field of oncology, and I believe that in the next 2~3 years, we will be able to bring more products and indications and bring new hope to more patients." Tian Anna said.
In addition to new drug development, improving patient drug accessibility is also very important, Tian Anna said, "There is only one new drug, if there is no way to make it available to patients who need it, no matter how good the innovation is, it is meaningless." In order to improve patient access, we need to explore all effective ways to make scientific research more widely available, and to do so requires the entire healthcare ecosystem to work together. ”
Develop a digital service platform to support healthcare professionals more widely and conveniently
Medical professionals are an important part of the medical process. Merck has always attached great importance to supporting the work of medical and health professionals, including sharing the latest data, clinical research progress, and diagnosis and treatment guideline updates with them. At the same time, many cooperation projects have been carried out with societies, associations and industry organizations. For example, it cooperated with Beijing Heesco Clinical Oncology Research Foundation to establish the "Heesco-Merck Cancer Research Fund", cooperated with the Guangdong Clinical Trial Association to establish the "CTONG-Merck Lung Cancer Research Fund", and cooperated with the Bethune Foundation to launch the "Bethune Liver Cancer Research Program".
"We hope that through these collaborations, we can support and encourage Chinese clinicians to carry out clinical research and translational research in the field of oncology, improve the level of scientific research and clinical practice, and work together in the 'ecosystem' to finally benefit patients." Tian Anna said.
However, the outbreak of the epidemic has brought many inconveniences to the communication between doctors and offline forums. To this end, Merck has opened the "Da Mo Infinity" communication platform, in addition to holding the "Da Mo Infinity" academic conference every year, it also combines many online digital medical education projects to share the latest clinical progress and data through a combination of online and offline methods, so that clinicians can understand the latest academic trends in the first time, and also promote academic exchanges and discussions between doctors.
In addition, Merck has also launched the "Medical Communication" platform to provide one-stop product information services for doctors and pharmacists, including providing Merck official product information, medical AI and practical clinical tools, online conference service support, etc. "With more than 330,000 doctors and pharmacists currently on the platform, we hope to provide customers with a personalized and differentiated experience through such a large-scale, aggregated platform." Tian Anna said that in terms of digital applications, we also have the "AInsight - AI Insight" one-stop tumor artificial intelligence academic platform, which uses artificial intelligence technology to provide global real-time updates of clinical research, clinical guidelines, academic conference tracking, cutting-edge reviews, etc. in the field of oncology, so that cutting-edge medical information can benefit medical and health professionals more widely and conveniently.
Anna Tian believes that digitalization will play an increasingly important role, "With the development of science and technology and the emergence of new technologies, we will continue to invest, continue to develop digital academic service platforms, and continue to update existing resources to bring better services to customers." ”
Launched the "Shine the Future" strategy to continuously help build China's healthcare ecosystem
This year is Merck China's 30th anniversary, looking back on the development of the past 30 years, Anna Tian is deeply touched, "In the past 30 years, China's medical and health industry has made tremendous development, and Merck is in it and participates. We have cooperated with Chinese government agencies and industry organizations, and have made many achievements in various therapeutic fields, and China is now Merck's second largest market in the world. ”
It is reported that under the leadership and promotion of Anna Tian, in 2021, Merck China formulated and launched the high-profile strategy of "Writing Our Future", which formulated a clear vision plan for the development of the Chinese market - Merck is committed to becoming a trusted and leading partner in China's medical ecosystem, vigorously improving patient and consumer accessibility, and greatly improving health outcomes.
During this year's CSCO Annual Meeting, it is also the exhibition date of the 5th China International Import Expo in 2022. "As a multinational enterprise participating in CIIE for four consecutive years, we look forward to continuing to embrace the open and inclusive Chinese market through the high-standard international platform of CIIE." "We will work with local partners to introduce more innovative medical solutions from prevention to treatment and covering the whole life cycle, continue to help build China's medical ecosystem, further expand Merck's 'circle of friends' in China's medical ecosystem, accelerate the benefit of more patients and the public, and shine the future and health together, which is also our long-term commitment to China." ”
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