Media can register now for Advanced Breast Cancer Third International Consensus Conference

The media programme will feature subjects such as:

- How do higher insulin levels influence the progression of breast cancer?

- Costs of treatment and care for advanced breast cancer patients: what are the lessons learned in Europe and how do they provide clear policy messages for emerging economies.

- Is the cost of drugs the main barrier to improving outcomes for patients with advanced breast cancer?

Despite major advances in the treatment of early breast cancer in the past decades, patients with advanced breast cancer face a poor prognosis and are under-served and largely forgotten [1]. A third of all early breast cancer cases will become metastatic even with the best care, and the average overall survival for these patients is around two to three years.

The International Consensus Conference for Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) has established itself as a major international conference. Its primary aim is the development of international consensus guidelines for the management of ABC patients. At the end of the 2015 conference, delegates will agree a new set of guidelines for the best treatment of ABC patients and these will be published subsequently in peer-reviewed journals [2].

The organisers of ABC3 welcome the interest of the media in breast cancer issues and are happy to provide full assistance to journalists who are attending the 2015 Lisbon conference or using the ABC website (http://www.abc-lisbon.org) as a resource in their coverage. A press office will be available for the use of accredited journalists.

All the conference sessions will be open to journalists and experts will be available for interview. Sessions will include those on affordability and access to care, new treatments, new technologies and techniques, survivorship, supportive and palliative care, and patient advocacy.

Over 1000 participants from approximately 70 countries around the world will attend the conference, including health professionals and patient advocates.

Registration

To register to attend ABC3, go to: http://www.abc-lisbon.org/pagine-interne/media-registration.html

The Conference welcomes representatives of print and electronic media. Registration is free of charge to journalists who are in possession of a valid, recognised press card. Freelance journalists must present a commissioning letter on headed paper from a recognised news organisation or publication. Representatives of advertising, marketing and public relations companies are not eligible for free media registration. A copy of the Press Card or of the commissioning letter should be sent together with the media registration form (available on the website).

Social media

Tweet, network and follow updates using #ABClisbon on Twitter and Facebook and join in the discussions leading up to ABC3 via the blog http://thecancerblog.net

[1] Advanced breast cancer is defined as cancer that has spread beyond the site of the first (primary) tumour to other sites either within the same breast such as the skin, chest wall and some lymph nodes (locally advanced) or other parts of the body (metastatic cancer).

[2] ABC guidelines are jointly developed by ESO (European School of Oncology) and ESMO (European Society of Medical Oncology) and guidelines or ABC conferences have been endorsed and supported by several other international oncology organisations such as ESGO (European Society of Gynaecological Oncology), EUSOMA (European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists), ESTRO (European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology), UICC (Union Internationale Contre le Cancer), SIS (Senologic International Society) / ISS (International School of Senology), FLAM (Federacion Latino- Americana de Mastologia), OECI (Organization of European Cancer Institutes), Susan G. Komen and BCRF (Breast Cancer Research Foundation). Furthermore, the ABC3 faculty includes official representatives appointed by ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology).

Provided by European School of Oncology