The 4th Multidisciplinary Lung Cancer Conference (MLCC 2019) was held from 1st-2nd of March 2019 at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore. This is a lung/thoracic cancer-focused conference with presentations from international and national speakers discussing the latest updates in the management and prevention as well as the multidisciplinary management of lung cancer and thoracic malignancies.

This year’s theme, “United Together in Fighting Lung Cancer”, aims to highlight how major scientific discoveries and technology developments are rapidly transitioning to the clinic and keep participants informed of the latest updates in the preclinical and clinical aspects of the ever-evolving field. Building on the success of the previous conferences, international and national speakers will gather to discuss the science and advances in the treatment and prevention as well as the multidisciplinary management of lung cancer and thoracic malignancies.

Some interesting topics discussed included the oncogene-driven lung tumors, role of immunotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and uncommon lung tumors including mesothelioma and thymic tumors.

Dr Tan Chee Seng and Dr Leong Swan Swan of OncoCare Cancer Centre (Singapore) were invited to chair a session on “Experts Perspective on the Management of mutant epidermal growth factor (EGFR) NSCLC: tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) Standard of Care in 2019”. Dr Sanjay Popat who hails from Royal Marsden, UK was one of the panellists during this session. Robust discussion on the latest updates on the treatments for this common subset of lung cancer in Asia was discussed.

Generally the treatments for mutant EGFR NSCLC is similar between UK and Asia but with some limitation of access to newer treatment options in UK under the national healthcare scheme (NICE). There are now more TKI options available with the recent approval of 3rd generation EGFR TKI, osimertinib. It had been shown to be more efficacious than earlier generation TKIs (1st and 2nd generation) with longer tumor control (longer progression-free survival), good blood brain barrier penetration to treat brain metastases and low toxicities and side effects. In terms of future directions, potential new treatment strategies would be combination treatment of EGFR TKI with either chemotherapy or another targeted therapy. The session was well attended and the audience participated actively during the Q&A sessions indicating high level of interest.

Overall the 4th MLCC 2019 was a success with good discussions between various physicians involved in the care of lung tumor patients (thoracic surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, pathologist and palliative physicians). Throughout the two days, participants can anticipate an enriching learning experience and abundance of networking opportunities. Key topics include lung cancer screening, cancer genomics, as well as novel diagnostics and therapeutics including immunotherapy.

At Oncocare Cancer Centre, we provide targeted and comprehensive genomic review for advanced lung cancer patients so as to allow the personalization of cancer treatments for each patient. Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), immunotherapy, chemotherapy or a combination of these are offered based on the best available evidence and tailored to individual patient’s cancer genomic profiles.