First global program dedicated to Women with Cancer and Thrombosis launched

A Group of global experts in the field of thrombosis and cancer launched the Women Thrombosis Cancer (WTC) medical education initiative on 14 February 2015 at the 6th International Symposium on Women’s Health Issues in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (WHITH) in Berlin.

(Berlin, Germany, 14 February 2015)

“With more than 17 million women living with cancer*, venous thromboembolism (VTE) has become the second leading cause of death in cancer patients” said Prof Dominique Farge-Bancel, Professor of Internal Medicine and Vascular Disease, St Louis Hospital, Paris Diderot University, France. “We started to raise awareness about cancer and thrombosis some years ago and developed international guidelines to improve the management of VTE in cancer and a mobile app clinical tool (www.itac-cme.com/nas/wp/www/cluster-34472/europecis), but the WTC project is the first ever program dedicated to women with cancer” she added.

The WTC initiative is designed to improve the management of venous thrombosis in women with cancer. The project received an unrestricted grant in medical education from Aspen, the world’s fifth largest generic pharmaceutical company, in support of its previously stated strategic intent to significantly expand its market share in anti-thrombotics.

Michael Crow, Head of Aspen Europe & CIS said, “Since becoming a leader in the field of thrombosis Aspen has identified a considerable unmet need for improving the management of thrombosis in women suffering with cancer. Through engaging with leading physicians in thrombosis and sponsoring their academic programme under the framework of this global initiative, we will work to improve venous thrombosis outcomes in women with cancer.”

“We know that venous thrombosis is an issue in women, which is why we have been organizing the WHITH International Conferences in Europe with hundreds of experts in that field for the last 10 years.’ said Prof Benjamin Brenner, Director, Department of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Rambam Medical Centre, Israel. ‘This type of medical education can change clinical practice and improve the management of venous thrombosis, but it will require a long term effort and the need to measure that improvement,’ he added.

The content of the WTC continuous medical education program will be developed by a group of eight globally recognized experts in the field of thrombosis. The programme will be rolled out in more than 40 countries worldwide through a network of key opinion leaders to different healthcare professionals including gynaecologists, haematologists and surgeons. Advanced discussions have taken place for the educational components of the program to be submitted to the prestigious University of McGill in Canada for accreditation.

One of the unique elements of the initiative includes mechanisms to measure the impact of the program over the coming years. This monitoring will be done via the collection of case reports which will provide an overview of the status regarding management of VTE in women with cancer including clinical practice improvements over time.

It is expected that the initiative will provide an opportunity to contribute to the scientific literature through several publications, demonstrating current sub-optimal management of venous thrombosis in women with cancer, and improvements in practice behaviours in this high-risk group.

The next element of the WTC initiative will occur in the second quarter of 2015 with the training of more than 60 speakers worldwide on accredited CME content. This will be implemented beginning in June 2015 across 5 continents through national and regional meetings with healthcare professionals specializing in thrombosis.

* International Agency for Research on Cancer – 2012