ALUCA events

Dr Monday from Pac RE presented in August 2017 at one of our ALUCA afternoon lunch time talks

 No longer does one type of medicine fit all

“Right treatment to the right person at the right time”

The reason for raising this topic is due to the following:

  • It may impact ourselves.
  • It impacts mortality and morbidity and therefore Death, IP and TPD cover.
  • It impacts the diseases covered by critical illness.
  • It particularly  impacts TI  claim consideration.
  • It impacts underwriting and underwriting manuals.
  • Broader ethical and macro-economic issues.

 

Targeted Therapy – Lock and Key

Targeted cancer treatment molecules lock and communicate with the cancer cell and either:

  • Block or turn off signals that tell cancer cells to grow and divide
  • Prevent cells from living longer than normal
  • Kill the cancer cells
  • Stop the growth of new blood vessels feeding the cancer

 

Next Generation of Risk Profiling

  • “ In patients with cancer, detection of minimal residual disease by monitoring of peripheral  blood after surgery has become the next frontier”
  • Successful molecular profiling and matching correct  targeted therapy to a cancer and negative liquid biopsies post treatment may be a very useful tool to risk profiling adding to TNM staging and perhaps eventually replacing TNM staging.

 

Liquid Biopsies Driven by a need

  • Prevalence of cancer increasing
  • Each patient’s cancer is different
  • Patient’s cancer changes over time
  • Effective treatment requires personalised care
  • Reducing healthcare costs ( $2 Billion in unnecessary biopsies in the USA)
  • Major Pharma developing more selective drugs

 

In Summary

  • We are at the ‘End of the Beginning’ of Immunotherapy and targeted therapy in Cancer treatment and it is moving rapidly into mainstream medicine and impacting survival very positively
  • Liquid Biopsy is in it’s infancy but has the potential to impact survival significantly not only from disease monitoring and aiding treatment choice but potentially also from detecting cancer at an earlier stage.
  • Combine the two and you have a major impact on cancer survival.

 

 

ALUCA NSW and CMG are holding a specialist dinner on 28th September 2017 at Darling Harbour Dockside at 6.30pm. It is a great opportunity to network and catch up with other specialists/leaders within the Life claims/underwriting industry and enjoy Steven Bradbury’s talk (Australia’s First Winter Olympics Gold Medallist, motivational speaker and author)