CANCER RESEARCH MONTH: THE early drug development meeting: 30th EORTC-NCI-AACR symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, 13-16 November 2018, Dublin, Ireland

On 13 November 2018, EORTC, in partnership with NCI and AACR, will host the 30^th symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. The meeting will attract over 1800 participants from all over the world to discuss new drugs and new targets that will determine cancer treatment for the next 10 years.

The meeting began in 1972 in the Institut Jules Bordet when Professor Henri Tagnon and Dr Maurice Staquet organized an EORTC course on Cancer Chemotherapy. Because there was a large interest from clinicians, it was decided to change it to a workshop hosted every year. Dr Maurice Staquet agreed to lead the meetings.

The main objective of the meeting was to establish a forum for discussion and exchange of research related to cancer treatment between Europe, Japan and USA. Dr Marcel Rozencweig joined NCI on a fellowship, and he introduced this European meeting to his NCI colleagues who then actively participated in the workshop. In 1978, NCI became a formal partner of the workshop and the meeting was renamed NCI-EORTC Symposium on New Drugs in Cancer Therapy.

The symposium moved to Amsterdam in 1984, (Dr. H.M. Pinedo had established the EORTC New Drug Development Office (NDDO)) and he organised the workshop. To reinforce the translational and preclinical research, AACR joined in 1999 and the meeting grew to over 2000 participants. The conference remains as an annual event, alternating between USA and Europe with AACR organising it in the odd years and EORTC organising it in the even years.

The symposium continues to present the latest results in research and development of new drugs and targets including compounds from natural or synthetic origin, immunology, gene therapy, and new drugs in combination therapies. Covering both preclinical research and early clinical development, this meeting still determines the potential new treatment of the future.

This year, the scientific committee expects several ground-breaking abstracts on 20^th June which is the deadline for general submission.

“Dr Ribas, Dr Gulley and I are very excited about this year’s meeting,” said Professor Charles Swanton, ENA 2018 Scientific Chairman and Medical Oncologist from the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK. “We will discuss the next generation compounds and scientific opportunities that will be at the forefront of treatment.

“This conference will host world renowned scientists and clinicians in cancer drug development and translational research, so if you want to discuss your research with leading experts, this is the meeting to attend!”

For information about the programme and abstract submission, please go to the conference website.