REPORT ON 3rd EUROPEAN BONE SARCOMA MEETING - Vienna 24-25 Sept. 2015

6 ottobre 2015

by Ornella Gonzato The 3rd Joint ENCCA-WP7 / EuroSarc / EEC / PROVABES / EURAMOS European Bone Sarcoma Network Meeting held in Vienna, on 24-25 September 2015, titled "Integration of clinical trials with tumor biology"  brought together preclinical and clinical bone sarcoma investigators and experts. The meeting was organized by Stefan Bielack,  Bass Hassan, Jeremy Whelan and  Uta Dirksen.The purpose of the meeting was to update the achievements and current status of biological and translational research and clinical trials in bone sarcomas, both osteosarcoma and EwingSarcoma,and to stimulate crosstalk.From "the bench to the bedside" was one of the main challenging topics addressed during the meeting. Research is working to identify new pathways and mechanisms of tumourigenesis, which may then be useful for the identification of biomarkers and the development of targeted therapies.  However, the complexity of molecular genetic events in osteosarcoma and Ewing  Sarcoma doesn't make the rapid identification of new treatment targets easy.In addition, translation of preclinical models into clinical practice is not simple. Innovative methods of testing potential drug effects and new methodologies, such as the Bayesian statistical approach, should be increasingly more considered. Currently, for example, a Bayesian Phase II is running for the investigation of Linsitinib in Ewing Sarcoma.More flexible regulatory rules on clinical trials on rare cancers should be adopted, because the scarsity of numbers of these tumours makes it difficult to generate evidence.Anyway the major difficulty in obtaining the approval  from EMA (European Medicine Agency) for a new drug for bone sarcomas limits the interest in developing new agents  on the part of industry.To overcome the scarsity of numbers, large, international collaborations were performed and are currently working clinically as well as scientifically. This kind of collaborations is vital to assess the value of new treatment strategies, even if they present some limiting factors  ranging from the funds needed to support them to regulatory national constrains,which can cause delays. Achievements and updates on several studies, ranging from Eurosarc Study of mifamurtide in advanced osteosarcoma(MEMOS) to EuroEwing2012 and to rEEC were given.A round table discussion regarding how informative bone sarcoma trials could be constructed and performed, if and when a new drug emerges, was conducted, involving for the first time - in these kind of highly specialistic meetings -  researchers, clinicians and patient representatives together.As SPAEN representative, I outlined the crucial role that correct and proper information always plays for patients recruitment in clinical studies; this means defining what, how, where and by whom, information should be delivered to patients to make them aware of the nature of clinicaltrials and the benefits of participating in one.In conclusions, highly specialistic presentations and very stimulating discussions were performed during the two days meeting.