As the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Associated Professional Sleep Societies (SLEEP) Annual Meetings kick off this weekend, we are eager to convene with members of both the oncology and sleep communities, highlight new cutting-edge research from Jazz and our partners, and discuss actionable ways we work to provide value and better solutions to patients with difficult-to-treat diseases throughout their care journeys. Jazz is committed to developing life-changing medicines for people with rare or complex conditions, so they can live their lives more fully. Large medical meetings like ASCO and SLEEP provide a unique opportunity for our teams to collaborate with advocacy partners and industry leaders, share new research, and showcase how we’re delivering on our goal of providing innovative treatment options to patients in need.
2023 will be a particularly significant year for Jazz at ASCO as we’ll be presenting pivotal new data reinforcing our growing leadership in oncology. We recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work in the treatment of cancer, we are pioneering new pathways into novel mechanisms and platform technologies that we believe can address and overcome some of the greatest unmet needs in cancer care to save or extend patient lives. Our portfolio has evolved and expanded over the last decade from an early focus on difficult-to-treat blood diseases like acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and veno-occlusive disease (VOD), to now address other areas of great unmet needs in oncology, such as small cell lung cancer (SCLC). We also continue to expand into new areas of development in difficult-to-treat cancers, such as biliary tract cancers (BTC) and gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA).
At this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting, Jazz and our partners will present data from nine abstracts, including pivotal trial results showing strong tumor response in HER2-amplified BTC, an aggressive group of cancers that currently have no FDA approved HER2-directed treatment options. Globally, more than 210,000 people are diagnosed with BTC every year and about 5 to 19 percent of these cases are HER2-positive.1,2 This is a rare group of cancers that are typically diagnosed when patients have an advanced stage of the disease and face limited treatment options. From the start, Jazz Oncology’s foundation has been built on tackling rare, hard-to-treat cancers. We focus on smaller patient communities and succeed in difficult regulatory environments so we can deliver effective treatments that patients and their families can rely on, and that HCPs and clinicians trust and prescribe with confidence.
We know that the patients we serve face a difficult road ahead, often with limited treatment options and suboptimal survival odds. By exploring new frontiers in immune-oncology and targeted oncology, we are committed to improving standards of care across multiple cancer types with significant unmet needs and historically poor outcomes.
Our commitment to patient safety is paramount, and we are proud to take steps to ensure that our products are used safely and effectively. As we continue to advance our neuroscience pipeline into new areas to address unmet needs, we remain focused on developing safe and innovative solutions to help even more patients, including those living with narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia. At SLEEP this year, we will demonstrate our continued commitment to the sleep community and present data from seven posters, including an exploration of the cardiovascular comorbidities of sleep disorders, which demonstrates our ongoing dedication to addressing patients’ holistic health.
Notably, Jazz will debut the first episode of our new Pioneering Pathways platform at SLEEP, showcasing our leadership in sleep medicine and our R&D path toward developing treatment options for people living with idiopathic hypersomnia, an often-debilitating neurologic sleep disorder characterized by chronic excessive daytime sleepiness, severe sleep inertia, and non-restorative nighttime sleep. I’m honored that I could participate in this project alongside our long-standing partner Richard K. Bogan, M.D., FCCP, FAASM. We had the opportunity to hear from patients living with idiopathic hypersomnia and advocates who are working to address large unmet patient needs. I appreciate the opportunity this project gave me to reflect on the work being done for this community.
As we expand our pipeline in oncology and neuroscience, we continue to focus on people for whom we can have the greatest impact. Our research presented at ASCO and SLEEP is a testament to the bold steps we are taking towards delivering therapies that create new or better standards of care for people living with serious, debilitating conditions. Read more about Jazz’s presence at ASCO 2023 here and SLEEP 2023 here, or follow along on Jazz’s Twitter and LinkedIn channels.
As we remain committed to the oncology and sleep communities, we will continue listening to patients, physicians, care teams, and advocacy groups to identify opportunities to improve treatment outcomes and provide solutions that fit their care needs – delivering on our purpose to innovative to transform the lives of patients and their families. Through it all, we know there is always more to do, which is why we never lose sight of the integrity, intellectual curiosity, and commitment to continuous evolution that has defined our culture from the beginning.
