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National Comprehensive Cancer Network appoints bladder cancer panel chairman
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Thomas Flaig, MD, has been named chairman of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology Panel for Bladder Cancer.
Flaig — associate dean for clinical research at University of Colorado School of Medicine and chief clinical research officer of UCHealth — and the other 33 members of the expert panel specialize in bladder cancer research, treatment and survivorship.
“After decades without new bladder cancer treatments, in the last 2 years and even more so in the last 6 to 9 months, approvals of new drugs have accelerated,” Flaig said in a press release. “We’re finally getting traction against the disease. I’m honored to lead the NCCN bladder cancer panel through this important time of transition and opportunity.”
NCCN guidelines influence how clinicians treat patients with cancer and help them decide what treatments — including drugs, surgery or radiation — are most appropriate. The guidelines also influence which treatments are covered by insurance companies.
“Often there’s just not enough research to show exactly how every drug should be used in every situation,” Flaig said. “When that’s the case, we rely on expert opinion. The NCCN panels convene multidisciplinary experts — including oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, researchers and patient advocates — to offer our best recommendations for the use of anticancer therapies.”