Eric Van CutsemHead, Digestive Oncology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg and

Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Leuven, Belgium

Published more than 185 peer-reviewed articles and more than 300 other texts or chapters in books

On editorial board of many international journals

Chairman of the EORTC GI group

Member of the general assembly of PanEuropean Trials on Adjuvant Colon Cancer

Chairs the ministerial commission on colon cancer prevention in Flanders

Vice-president of the International Digestive Cancer Alliance

Member of the ASCO Cancer Education Committee

University Hospital Gasthuisberg

Challenges for the treatment of colorectal cancer and

gastric cancer

Eric Van CutsemUniversity Hospital Gasthuisberg

Leuven, Belgium

Friday 8 February 2008Agenda

09.00 Chair’s openingEric Van Cutsem

09.10 Forging a new standard in metastatic CRCEric Van Cutsem

09.40 Mounting evidence in early CRCAxel Grothey

10.10 Capecitabine: the new standard chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer?

Werner Scheithauer

10.40 Discussion

11.00 Coffee break

American Cancer Society: cancer facts and figures 2007

37,170

112,340

5,640

19,16021,260

33,370

11,210

1,090

52,180

16,780

Incidence

Mortality

Digestive system cancer: estimated new cases and deaths in the USA

Est

imat

ed n

ew c

ases

/d

eath

s in

th

e U

SA

(p

er y

ear)

Stomach Smallintestine

Colon Liver Pancreas

150,000

125,000

100,000

75,000

50,000

25,000

0

CRC: what are the challenges that we face in the next decade?

Feasibility of metastasectomy and optimal management of wound-healing/bleeding events

Establish optimal treatment duration for novel therapies

Determine optimal combination partners

Dose modifications for novel therapies and the impact on clinical outcomes

Determine whether novel therapies can replace 5-FU as the backbone for CRC therapy

CRC = colorectal cancer; 5-FU = 5-fluorouracil

Rivera F, et al. Cancer Treat Rev 2007;33:315–24

Gastric cancer: ‘classical’ chemotherapy regimens provide limited benefit

Mo

nth

s

Time to progression Overall survival

10

8

6

4

2

0

4–5months

7–10months

Outcomes with cisplatin/5-FU or cisplatin/5-FU/epirubicin regimens

No global ‘standard of care’ in metastatic gastric cancer

Surgery only curative option– 50% patients present with unresectable disease

Addition of docetaxel to cisplatin/5-FU improves survival1,2

– however, safety issues limit the use of the docetaxel/cisplatin/5-FU regimen in daily practice

Still unmet need in metastatic gastric cancer

Ajani JA, et al. J Clin Oncol 2007;18:4001–3Van Cutsem E, et al. J Clin Oncol 2006;24:4991–7

Gastric cancer: what are the challenges that we face in the next decade?

Determine optimal combination regimens

Establish a backbone chemotherapy

Continue to evaluate novel treatment options

Determine whether novel therapies can improve survival and enhance quality of life

Extend treatment to a wider range of patients