A productive and insightful trip to Munich, Germany, to meet with advocates, clinicians and researchers from around the world.

MSCAN is a proud member of the Melanoma International Patient Advocacy Coalition (MI-PAC), a group which works to continuously push for access to medicines, regulatory improvements, and research, as well as increase awareness and change public perceptions of melanoma, empower melanoma patients to take an active role in their care.

As the Australian representative to MI-PAC, I am very grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with patient advocates from around the world in sharing ideas on how to influence change in our home countries. MI-PAC member countries include Brazil, Canada, Eastern Europe, France, Israel, Italy, Latin America, Portugal, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The 2023 MI-PAC meeting was held in June in Munich, Germany, where this group of passionate patient advocates presented their latest resources and projects to improve awareness of melanoma, as well as an update on melanoma statistics for their country. I proudly shared news of MSCAN’s many accomplishments, but was again met with stunned faces when I presented Australia’s continuing high rates of skin cancer.

With this in mind, I was interested to reflect on how Australia fits in the global picture of innovative science, research and clinical trials currently focused on improving melanoma outcomes. The MI-PAC heard from world-leading clinicians and researchers who highlighted the high-quality clinical trials underway, including in Australia. We are fortunate that Australia has a wealth of excellent clinicians and access to clinical trials. What is a concern is that once the medicines have been tried, tested and proven, Australia is slow at making medicines available to the patients who need them.

Here are two statistics that jump out at me:

• On average, it takes four times longer for new medicines to be available for patients in Australia (426 days) compared to world leaders Japan (89 days), Germany (117 days) and Great Britain (128 days)¹
• Australia ranks 17th out of 20 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in access to new medicines²

These figures are alarming, and MSCAN is working with the Australian Government to find ways to ensure new medicines are available for patients as soon as possible. We are actively engaged in the current review of the health technology assessment (HTA) processes and methods; the first review of its kind in more than 30 years. HTA informs decision makers about a medicines value and is a key step in determining if and when government fund and subsidise health technologies (including medicines) on the PBS. I will keep you posted on MSCAN’s progress in this space.

Back to Munich…

Each year, following the MI-PAC meeting, this group of enthusiastic advocates attend the Post-Chicago Melanoma/ Skin Cancer meeting to network with key opinion leaders and hear key take aways from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting held in a Chicago a few weeks earlier.

The ASCO meetings attract over 40,000 people and cover the big topics on all types of cancer, recent breakthroughs and reports on clinical trials. Many melanoma and skin cancer experts attend both the Chicago and Munich meetings, which provides a great opportunity for us advocates in Munich to immerse ourselves in the medicine and science and hear from the best in the business.

A few key take aways from the Post-Chicago Melanoma / Skin Cancer meeting:

• New treatment options: exciting new treatment options are in the pipeline, with many of these being trialled in combination with existing immunotherapy treatment options.

• Drug therapies for early stages: evidence is emerging that drug therapies may be beneficial in the early stages of melanoma and skin cancer – the first time that this treatment has been considered for patients with Stage IIB and IIC.

• Adjuvant and neo-adjuvant drug therapies: there is active and exciting debate about patients potentially being offered immunotherapy or targeted therapy in the adjuvant and/or neo-adjuvant settings. Adjuvant means medicine is taken after the surgical removal of the cancer to reduce the risk of it coming back in future. Neo-adjuvant is when medicine is taken before surgery.

MSCAN is fortunate to have the opportunity to work with and learn from incredible people at these meetings in Munich, Germany – people who make the cure of melanoma and skin cancer their life’s work. I have returned with a real sense of hope and optimism for melanoma and skin cancer patients.

1. Medicines Australia (2018). Comparison of Access and Reimbursement Environments: A report benchmarking Australia’s access to new medicines: Edition 4 [↩]
2. Medicines Australia (2018). Comparison of Access and Reimbursement Environments: A report benchmarking Australia’s access to new medicines: Edition 4. [↩]