Advocacy, Education, Lobbying Archive - 2015

Immuno-Oncology Policy Working Group

The Immuno-Oncology Policy Working Group launched in December 2015 to develop a strategic policy plan to accelerate progress for immune-oncology in multiple disease types and settings. SITC is co-leading this initiative, joining Friends of Cancer Research, EMD Serono and Pfizer.

Immuno-oncology (I-O) has been fueled by numerous clinical trial successes in recent years and has already transformed traditional approaches to cancer treatment. The I-O Policy Working Group develops policy strategies to facilitate the development and use of immuno-oncology treatments including regulatory, legislative, reimbursement and education/training efforts.

Broadly, outstanding challenges fall into two categories: scientific, related to furthering our understanding of the mechanisms that drive immunotherapy, and systemic, related to ensuring these therapies are appropriately used as single agents or in combination in the clinical setting. At a time when mainstream adoption of I-O is still taking hold, an opportunity exists to learn from early experiences with I-O in melanoma and lung cancer, and identify and address high priority policy-related issues defined by the emerging science.

While many of the challenges will be addressed as our understanding of the mechanisms of action behind immune-oncology develop, there is a role for the multi-stakeholder community to facilitate development of and appropriate access to those scientific discoveries by leveraging and mobilizing our collective knowledge to support innovation in immune-oncology.

The output of this effort is informed by recent advancements in research, intended to be outcome-driven, and designed to leverage and complement other ongoing activities in the field.

Learn more about the participating constituencies of the I-O Policy Working Group.