News & Updates

Thoracic oncology is at a tipping point this year, coming off from highlights from both ELCC in March and ASCO in June. Notable updates from these conferences support the transition from broad, single agent strategies to innovative combination therapies and expanded use of known drugs for metastatic disease to early-stage setting.

While system navigation remains a challenge locally, global oncology has moved decisively beyond one-size-fits-all cytotoxic chemotherapy. Targeted therapy and immunotherapy now anchor treatment planning across breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, guided by the molecular and immune features of each tumor rather than its site of origin alone. Outcomes improve when treatment matches biology, and biology is now testable at the point of diagnosis. Benefit is increasingly measured not only in response rates, but in years of survival gained.

Cancer treatment has changed. And with it, comes a new reason to believe that a diagnosis does not have to be the end of the story.

There are few words that can change a person’s life in an instant.

“You have cancer.”

For many Filipinos, hearing those words still feels like receiving a death sentence.

When we think of exercise, we usually envision people running at steady paces with toned abs and endless physical endurance. However, being in the field of oncology and working out at the same time has changed my view of how I see fitness over the years.

In 2022, the Philippines recorded over 188,000 new cancer cases and113,000 deaths. The WHO Global Status Report on Cancer 2026 highlights a critical reality: the primary challenge in global oncology is no longer a gap in knowledge, but a gap in health system implementation. That gap is visible locally. Screening uptake varies with health-system readiness. Patients face long diagnostic journeys, fragmented work-up, and heavy out-of-pocket costs.  Specialist care remains urban-concentrated, so distance, transport, and lost income become hidden barriers for provincial patients. Delay accumulates at each milestone—symptom to diagnosis, diagnosis to treatment plan, plan to treatment start, start to completion—driven by awareness gaps, pathology turnaround, financing approval, and stock-outs. Tracking these waiting times is what makes equity measurable.

The growing range of treatment options for EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has made first-line decisions more complex and more critical. Patients are increasingly more aware of new and different treatment options and are seeking therapies that align with their personal values. As survival outcomes continue to improve, shared decision-making (SDM) plays a vital role in individualising care by integrating clinical evidence with what matters most to each individual. This article explores how SDM can support patient-centred care, drawing on insights from Professor James Yang and patient advocate Mark Brooke.

Professor Jean-Jacques Kiladjian, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Consultant Haematologist, and head of the Clinical Investigation Centre of Hôpital Saint-Louis & Université Paris Cité in Paris, France, discusses the drawbacks of conventional therapy for PV, and how ropeginterferon alfa-2b may support a shift in treatment.

MIMS Oncology explores the current landscape of polycythaemia vera management in Singapore and the role of the newly launched ropeginterferon alfa-2b in improving patient outcomes. During an interview, Dr Dawn Mya, a leading haematologist practicing at Parkway Cancer Centre, Singapore, provides expert insights into the therapeutic potential of this novel treatment.

Polycythemia vera (PV) is a chronic myeloproliferative disorder characterized by overproduction of red blood cells, which poses a significant risk of thrombohaemorrhagic complications and impaired survival. Traditionally, treatment approaches have focused on managing the symptoms and reducing haematocrit levels, but these do not address the underlying cause of the disease.

Ropeginterferon alfa-2b (BESREMi, PharmaEssentia), an innovative monopegylated long-acting interferon, offers a novel approach by directly targeting and depleting JAK2-mutated hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in the bone marrow, which is the source of the disease. This article focuses on the role of ropeginterferon alfa-2b in transforming the treatment landscape for PV, its mechanisms, clinical benefits, and potential to significantly improve patient outcomes.

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