In March Denise Robinson, Director of Research for The EHE Foundation from the USA attended the ESMO Sarcoma and Rare Cancers Congress 2024 in Lugano, Switzerland. This congress brought together world-renowned experts including researchers and clinicians, to present and discuss the latest advancements in the treatment of sarcomas and rare cancers.
Topics ranged from the role of immunotherapy for sarcomas (not specific to EHE), to our learning of the achievements of the Australian Rare Cancer (ARC) Portal, including EHE patients, and presented by Dr. Betty Zhang. Dr. Zhang impressed upon the audience the importance of such a resource for clinicians treating rare cancer patients in a vast geographic region where access to expert care is challenging.
One session featured speakers discussing new EU pharma regulations, including representatives from the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Of note to our EHE community were Silvia Stacchiotti, MD, INT Milan, and Pan Pantziarka, PhD, from the Anti Cancer Fund, who gave passionate talks highlighting patients’ needs for new EU regulations that could, if implemented, improve opportunities to repurpose safe and effective drugs for use in rare diseases, including EHE.