Redefining lung cancer care with early intervention and personalized treatment

This year’s Philippine National Cancer Summit brought together a diverse range of stakeholders from the national and international cancer communities to address critical challenges under the theme “Advancing Integrated Cancer Care Systems for the Filipino”. From advocates and pioneers from the medical community, academic and private sectors, to local government and key national government agencies, this summit serves as an inspirational platform for stakeholders to share knowledge, learn from each other’s expertise and experiences, recognize the latest research findings, analyze best practices to promote and enhance a patient-focused, multidisciplinary, and high-quality cancer care system. 

One of the event’s speakers was priest, cancer survivor, and Hope From Within ambassador Fr. Jerry Orbos, who shared his journey and learnings from his battle against lung cancer by emphasizing the importance of early detection to improve overall survival. 

Fr. Orbos said he was surprised when he was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer in 2018 because he didn’t have a family history of the disease. He learned about his cancer through a vehicular accident. Had he not been in that accident, his cancer would have remained unknown to him. “An accident made me go for a checkup. In a way, that accident made it possible for my lung cancer to be detected early,” said Orbos. 

Fr. Jerry Orbos, lung cancer survivor

Prior to the incident, Orbos who is a smoker, has exhibited some classic lung cancer symptoms such as chronic coughing, weight loss, and fatigue. 

Early diagnosis is vital for symptomatic patients so they could have the best chance for successful treatment.  When cancer care is delayed or inaccessible there is a lower chance of survival, greater problems associated with treatment and higher costs of care. Early diagnosis improves cancer outcomes by providing care at the earliest possible stage. 

His treatment was a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy or what he coined, albeit in jest, “chemono therapy”. “It was not an easy journey. But Pray. I went with it with prayer…things happen for a reason. The big C has a bigger C, Christ and the big CH (chemo), has a bigger CH Christ.” 

Fr. Orbos is now cancer-free for five years and shared that despite the hardships, having cancer made him realize how beautiful life is. According to the priest, it led him to his new “mission” which is to inspire others in their path to healing. “I thank God I had cancer. It’s a blessing. It cleansed me a lot, it made me humble and made me realize how beautiful life is. Now, I end up being an advocate for cancer, healing, and for the presence of God in our cancer,” he said.

Great Strides Toward Precision Medicine in Lung Cancer 

Just like Fr. Orbos thousands of Filipino patients have been touched by lung cancer. In fact, it tops the list for cancer-attributable mortality in the Philippines. Almost a quarter of Filipinos aged 15 years and older smoke tobacco, placing millions of people at significant risk for developing lung cancer.

Treatment for lung cancer depends on several factors. These include what type of lung cancer a patient has, how big it is and whether it has spread (the stage). It is also important to note that two people may have the same type of cancer, but no two people respond to treatment exactly alike. For lung cancer, precision medicine is changing the game. Precision medicine works to find targeted treatments custom-fit for each person, based on the particular genes, proteins, and other substances in a person’s body. This approach is also sometimes called personalized medicine or personalized care.

Biomarkers and biomarker testing are a significant pillar of precision medicine, which uses patient data to inform personalized treatment decisions. Biomarker tests are essential tools in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. They can be used to provide precise diagnoses and identify patients most likely to respond to treatment, therefore informing treatment selection.

Driving Equity for Testing and Innovative Treatment 

Despite the growing importance of biomarker testing in personalized medicine, significant barriers to biomarker testing persist. But the good news is that multi-stakeholder collaboration is in the works to tackle these barriers. MSD in the Philippines, together with partner patient groups, diagnostic laboratories, healthcare groups, and medical societies are aiming to achieve more informed diagnosis and to make better treatment decisions that lead to optimal patient outcomes by working on the simplification of the testing processes and the use of innovative treatment options.

Some of the efforts being done to overcome barriers to precision medicine include: 

• Tackling logistical issues: Hi-Precision Diagnostics (HPD) now provides nationwide coverage, which was earlier limited only to the metropolitan areas, and a unified test request form for faster turnaround time for a lung panel testing approach 
• Changing the behavior of sequential biomarker testing or no biomarker testing: HPD is optimizing testing processes by providing unified panel testing of 3 biomarkers instead of sequential testing. 
• Addressing funding: There may be options available for your tests to be subsidized upon consultation with the doctor. 
• Increasing Awareness: Soon From Testing to Targeted Treatments (FT3), a global consortium will approach local patient groups such as New Vois Association to launch initiatives to improve awareness and establish the value of lung cancer biomarker testing

In an upcoming campaign launch, MSD and its partners will be further discussing planned collaboration to address gaps in comprehensive biomarker testing and identify best practices and solutions to testing barriers.

ADVT.