Trials and Timely Updates

Greetings to all our colleagues. We are introducing this Newsletter from the Georgia Cancer Center where we want to provide you with information on some of the latest developments in the various cancers and provide information on the clinical trials we are conducting at the Georgia Cancer Center.

The progress made in the outcome of many cancers is remarkable. This progress has been made possible by the deeper understanding of the molecular biology of the disease, the interplay of various elements including the immune system, the microenvironment, the molecular abnormalities, various host characteristics and many others. Those of us who have been working in cancer for many years have witnessed the rapid transformation in oncology. We have come to understand that each cancer type has many subtypes, and we have at our disposal many more treatment options of various mechanisms of action that allow us to be more selective and rational in our treatments. This has led to better outcomes in many cancers manifested in improved response rates, improved patient reported outcomes, safer therapies and longer overall survival. The most recent statistics from the Annual Report to the Nation from the National Institute of Health Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Result Program (SEER) show that for the decade of 2007 to 2017, cancer death rates decreased 15% overall. If we look back to 1991, the decline from 1991 to 2018 in cancer death rate has been 31%, including an 2.4% decline from 2017 to 2018, the largest one-year decline recorded in history.1 Much work remains ahead of us but this trend is very encouraging.