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A Webinar Series: Supporting the lung oncology community to navigate through the COVID-era

by Real Chemistry for AstraZeneca

Summary of work

Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, with roughly 47,800 new cases every year. In 2018, lung cancer was the most common cause of cancer-related mortality, accounting for 21% of all cancer deaths.
In the early stages of COVID-19, lung cancer patients were identified as a high-risk group, and there was widespread interruption to cancer services.
With no published guidelines around how to manage this at the time, AstraZeneca Lung Oncology Medical Affairs UK and 21GRAMS decided to host a series of webinars, which provided a platform for knowledge and experience sharing at the national level. The webinars focused on the impact of COVID-19 on lung cancer services, maintaining a focus on early diagnosis and the recovery of lung cancer services in a COVID-era.
Over 450 HCPs attended the three webinars combined, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with 98% of attendees saying that the webinar was beneficial for their clinical practice.
In the absence of face-to-face meetings, this platform provided invaluable peer-to-peer sharing during an unprecedented period for the lung cancer community.

To date, the program has successfully generated and leveraged data through newly established channels and partnerships with engaged stakeholders. The program has already successfully influenced clinical practice and policy at global, country and clinic levels via novel insights and targeted, patient-focused solutions. Adherence is gaining the attention it has long needed, and real-world outcomes will improve as a result.

Judges’ comments

This entry impressed the judges with how quickly they pulled it together so soon after lockdown. It was a novel and reactive programme to address the impact on lung cancer services and patient management, helping HCPs to support their patients. The number of attendees was impressive, given numbers of lung cancer specialists in UK, and that lung specialists were one of the first groups to get pulled into COVID treatment. A very strong entry with exactly the right approach.