Small-Group Learning Platform to Educate US and European Oncology Providers

MANHATTAN, N.Y. - May 27, 2022 - PRLog -- DKBmed and Liberum IME have created a unique partnership to develop a new educational initiative for providers treating patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Gather-ed: Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer will help clinicians better understand the role of recently approved checkpoint inhibitors and other therapies for patients with newly diagnosed NSCLC.

This program will be available to learners in the United States and United Kingdom through the digital, social learning platform Gather-ed.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, even as tobacco use declines in high-income countries. NSCLC is the most common form of the malignancy, accounts for 5 in 6 cases and has a 5-year survival rate of 25% in the United States. Historically, clinicians have relied heavily on platinum doublet therapy paired with bevacizumab for patients with NSCLC, irrespective of the underlying histology of each patient's cancer. Although effective to a degree, this regimen only modestly extends median progression-free survival by about 6 months. Within the last several years, mortality from lung cancer has declined at an accelerated pace, likely because of new treatments such as checkpoint inhibitors. The surge of new developments in diagnosis, biomarker testing, and treatment has resulted in numerous updates to practice guidelines published by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the European Society for Medical Oncology, and other leading health authorities.

"Few areas in modern medicine evolve as quickly as oncology, and clinicians are regularly inundated by data from new clinical trials testing an astonishing array of treatments," notes Justin Gainor, MD from Massachusetts General Hospital. "Patients with NSCLC have the greatest number of treatments available to them ever, but the increasing number of options has also made the job of oncologists markedly more complex. Educational initiatives that can clarify how to use these new therapies to greatest extent possible would be invaluable for clinicians, young and old alike."

Gather-ed: NSCLC seeks to engage oncologists, pulmonologists, and other members of the care team from both sides of the Atlantic who are interested in understanding the role of targeted NSCLC therapies. As a small-group, social learning platform, Gather-ed will bring together seven groups, each consisting of 10-15 interdisciplinary clinicians. Four groups will be hosted in the United States by DKBmed and three from United Kingdom will be under the direction of Liberum IME. Each group will be led by a mentor, or group leader, with expertise in NSCLC and awareness of the needs of learners in each country. Participants will first asynchronously complete foundational materials before engaging in a multipart curriculum that features live group discussions and collaborative group tasks (e.g., case studies). Through this interactive, small-group approach, participating clinicians can have pertinent questions answered and learn from meaningful interactions with care teams peers.

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