White paper addresses needs, challenges and solutions for improving mCRC treatment

The Angiogenesis Foundation released a white paper at the 2013 European Cancer Congress that addresses the needs, challenges, and proposed solutions for improving treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), the third most common cancer among men and the second most common among women worldwide. The white paper, "Improving Outcomes in the Treatment and Management of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer," is the result of the International Expert Summit for mCRC, convened by the Angiogenesis Foundation in Berlin, Germany, this past July, that gathered a global multidisciplinary group of leading experts on the field.

New targeted drugs that have been approved since 2004 have shifted oncologists' approach to treating mCRC, and the standard of care now involves treatments aimed at interfering with angiogenesis—new blood vessel growth—which supplies tumors with oxygen and nutrients. Antiangiogenic treatments have increased both the survival and quality of life for patients suffering from this disease. 

"With the advent of antiangiogenic therapy, metastatic CRC can now be approached as a cancer with multiple treatment options over time— choices that can improve a patient's quality of life. However, the benefit of these treatments has yet to be maximized and optimal care needs to be more accessible to all patients," commented Dr. William Li, President and Medical Director of the Angiogenesis Foundation.

This white paper addresses the current state of the field, identifies future goals and the barriers to those goals, and makes recommendations for advocacy leaders, oncologists, and the cancer community at large for improving patient outcomes worldwide. The white paper is being distributed at the European Cancer Congress at the Angiogenesis Foundation's advocacy booth, and can be downloaded at www.scienceofcrc.org/mCRC-globalwhitepaper.