The International Colorectal Cancer Association (ICCA) is to launch its ‘Get Tested’ campaign, with support from Merck KGaA, Merck Serono and Sysmex, to coincide with the first World Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Day on March 24.
Get Tested aims to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of RAS biomarker testing in patient who have just been diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) by encouraging patients to discuss the testing method with their doctor.
The campaign launch meeting in Brussels, Belgium, will see a White Paper presented to members of European Parliament and national governing bodies calling for the routine use of RAS biomarker testing in all newly diagnosed patients with mCRC.
Speaking at the campaign launch in Brussels, Elisabetta Gardini, MEP, head of the Italian European People’s Party, said: “mCRC is an example of where selecting a ‘personalised’, or ‘precision’, medicine approach through the use of biomarkers can potentially make a real difference to treatment success for patients.
“We need to rapidly reach a point where all European citizens, and those in other regions around the world, can be confident that appropriate diagnostic testing will be available following diagnosis of mCRC, wherever they are living.”
This aims to ensure the most appropriate treatment option can be selected as part of a patients’ personalised cancer treatment plan.
The campaign’s launch meeting with be chaired by Professor Fortunato Ciardiello, Chair of the Get Tested Steering Committee, President-elect of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) and Professor of Medical Oncology, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli in Naples, Italy.
Prof Ciardiello, who is also chairman of the ICCA, president-elect of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), said: “For patients newly diagnosed with mCRC, having a RAS biomarker test before starting first line treatment is extremely important.
“RAS tests can help select the most appropriate treatment as part of a patient’s personalised treatment plan. Our campaign website gives patients more information on mCRC and RAS testing so they can better understand the options available to them and discuss these with their physician.”