Breast Cancer Trials

45^th Annual Scientific Meeting

The Cairns Convention Centre in Queensland will host the Breast Cancer Trials 45^th Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM), from 24 -26 July 2024.

This is the premier event to stay up to date with breast cancer clinical trials research, and delegates include leading Australian and New Zealand medical practitioners, clinicians, and clinical trials management personnel. 

Breast Cancer Trials has a strong history of bringing the world’s best and brightest minds to the ASM each year and our international guest speakers are:

• Associate Professor Erica Mayer – Director of Clinical Research and an Institute Physician in the Breast Oncology Centre at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Associate Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School in the United States.
• Professor Michel Gnant – Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, where he also serves as President of the Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group.
• Dr Carlos Barrios – Adjunct Assistant Professor of the William Harrington Latin American Program at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Director and Principal Investigator of the Oncology Research Centre at Hospital Sao Lucas, and Director of Clinical Research and Oncologist of the Oncoclinicas Group in Porto Alegre.
• Professor Andrew Tutt – Head of the Division of Breast Cancer Research and Director of the Breast Cancer Now Tony Robins Research Centre at the ICR and Guy’s Hospital King’s College London.
• Professor Elinor Sawyer – Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital and Professor of Oncology at King’s College London.
• Dr Peter Barry – Consultant Surgeon at The Breast Uni, Royal Mardsen.
• Professor In Hae Park – Professor in the division of Hemato-Oncology at the Korean University College of Medicine and Guro Hospital.
• Dr Akihiko Shimomura – National Cancer Centre Hospital, Tokyo, Japan, and representative from the Japan Clinical Oncology Group.

The extensive program includes:

• two days of scientific sessions covering timing reviews of research developments.
• the discussion of new protocols and future clinical trials research.
• sponsored breakfast and lunch symposium sessions.
• a conference dinner at the Convention Centre.
• a trainee and early career weekend on 27 and 28 July.

Early-bird registration, abstracts, new concept applications, and Trainee and Early Career Grants, will close on Friday 31 May.

To register or find out more, visit www.bct2024.org.

Open Clinical Trials

We recently opened two new trials – OPTIMA and CAMBRIA-2.

OPTIMA aims to find out if using a test called Prosigna, can help make safe and accurate decisions about whether or not chemotherapy treatment is needed for patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer.

CAMBRIA-2 is investigating if giving a new treatment called camizestrant is better at stopping cancer from coming back, for patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer, compared to the usual endocrine (hormone) treatments such as letrozole, anastrozole, exemestane or tamoxifen.

Other trials currently open are:

• BRCA-P – a world-first trial that aims to prevent breast cancer in women with a BRCA1 gene mutation.
• CAPTURE – aims to identify women and men with hormone-receptor positive metastatic breast cancer, who many benefit from a novel combination of drugs that may improve progression free survival.
• EXPERT – aims to improve personalised use of radiation therapy in early breast cancer patients, by using a genomic test to identify women who can safely avoid this treatment after surgery and the potential side effects.
• TUGETHER – aims to find out if adding tucatinib and pembrolizumab to the usual treatment given to people with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, slows down the growth of the cancer.

Q&A Event: Is Less More

Join our next free and online Q&A on the topic of ‘Is Less More: Rethinking Breast Cancer Treatment’, moderated by Author and Journalist Annabel Crabb.

The Q&A will be held on 12 June from 5-6:30pm (AEST) and will discuss optimised treatment and identifying patients who may benefit from having less treatment.    Featuring Professor Boon Chua, Dr Belinda Kiely, Ms Michelle Sinclair and Ms Margaret Lopreiato, the Q&A panel will discuss research such as the EXPERT, OPTIMA and PROSPECT clinical trials, as well as recent findings on the psychological impact of optimised treatment on patients, and a patient’s perspective on choosing to have less treatment and her breast cancer outcomes.

To find out more or to register, click here.