People living with lung cancer, accompanied by health professionals, and volunteers from the Spanish Association of People Affected by Lung Cancer (AEACaP), have cycled the almost 200 kilometers that run along the Ojos Negros Greenway, between Teruel and Valencia, to raise awareness about the individual and unique journey that each person diagnosed with lung cancer takes within the framework of the ‘Pedaling towards the future’ initiative. Making progress in lung cancer’.
This initiative by Johnson & Johnson and AEACaP aim to trace a path parallel to that followed by each patient diagnosed with lung cancer, unique, with their own circumstances and challenges. Bernard Gaspar, president of the Spanish Association of Lung Cancer Patients (AEACaP), has defined this initiative as “an unbeatable way to show society, through physical activity and exercise, the tenacity and effort of people affected during their journey with lung cancer, from diagnosis to the different phases of treatment.”
In Spain, it is estimated that in 2024 more than 32,000 cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed, of which just over 30% will occur in women. Although it continues to affect men more, 1 in recent years there has been a decrease in cases of male patients, due to the reduction in smoking habits, at the same time there has been an increase in cases in women.
Despite the progress made in recent years and the research efforts, this pathology continues to be the main cause of death from cancer in Spain 1 and throughout Europe. However, it is expected that the advances achieved will continue in the field of precision medicine, as well as when identifying new alterations, in order to continue improving the prognosis of these cancer patients.
Each patient faces cancer with a unique set of biomarkers that can help determine the best treatment option in each case. For this reason, molecular diagnosis plays a crucial role in determining the best therapeutic option. “Lung cancer has gone from being a single disease to being multiple diseases depending on its histology and molecular diagnosis, since each of them will require a different therapeutic approach,” said Dr. Óscar Juan, medical oncologist. from the La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital in Valencia, who has also joined the bicycle route.
“We know more and more molecular alterations for which we have a treatment – added the specialist -, so having a molecular diagnosis from the beginning of the disease is essential for an adequate therapeutic approach, both in metastatic lung cancer and in early stages of the disease.
For his part, Dr. Sergio Sandiego, medical oncologist at the Valencian Institute of Oncology Foundation (IVO), recalled the relevance of targeted therapies for patients with lung cancer: “We have gone from treating all patients with the same treatment schemes, with very similar survival rates and, unfortunately, high toxicities, to a treatment directed against molecular alterations, with generally less toxic treatments, much longer survivals, better responses and, above all, a better tolerance profile. For his part, Dr. Sergio Sandiego, medical oncologist at the Valencian Institute of Oncology Foundation (IVO), recalled the relevance of targeted therapies for patients with lung cancer: “We have gone from treating all patients with the same treatment schemes, with very similar survival rates and, unfortunately, high toxicities, to a treatment directed against molecular alterations, with generally less toxic treatments, much longer survivals, better responses and, above all, a better tolerance profile.
For Dr. Juan, “this bicycle trip is a simile of how each person faces lung cancer in a different way. There is no single way to face the disease and to face the treatment and the different stages that they will go through in the evolution of the disease.” A reflection in which Dr. Sandiego has agreed: “We are never going to follow a straight path, we are going to have ups and downs along a route and the same thing happens with lung cancer: we are going to have very good moments, great responses, very good tolerances; but also moments in which decisions may have to be made regarding therapeutic changes.”
Advancing together against lung cancer
“For our company, this route is part of our commitment to people with lung cancer, whom we want to accompany in their experience with the disease. “We know that we have a responsibility to continue advancing in improving the therapeutic options available to patients with lung cancer, and without a doubt personalized medicine is opening this avenue to have an individualized approach in which each person is unique,” said Pedro Martínez, director of Institutional Relations at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. “Without a doubt, we continue to look forward to continued improvement in the prognosis of lung cancer. We continue, without pause, pedaling towards the future.”
The four stages of the route have passed between Caudé and La Puebla de Valverde; to continue towards Caudiel, Sagunto and, finally, the city of Valencia. An apparently common journey for many cyclists, but in this case it has been experienced in a unique way by each of them, in the same way that each person lives with their own experience when they are diagnosed with lung cancer. ‘Pedaling towards the future. Advancing Lung Cancer’ is an initiative funded by Johnson & Johnson.
AEACaP is a non-profit entity created in December 2008 to help people who receive a diagnosis of lung cancer. It is the only association dedicated exclusively to this disease in Spain. Among its objectives are to provide psychological and human support and legal advice; defend the rights of affected people and equal access to health benefits; promote prevention and screening programs for early detection; promote research to obtain more and better treatments that boost survival and quality of life; and carry out informative activities to reduce the stigma associated with the disease.
References
1 Spanish Lung Cancer Group, “Lung Cancer. Incidence and risk factors”, GECP
2 SEOM. Cancer figures in Spain, 2024. Available at: https://www.seom.org/images/LAS_CIFRAS_2024.pdf. Last access: April 2024.
3 IARC. Online analysis table. Last access: April 2024.
4 Inés Calabria et al., “The new challenge in oncology: NGS sequencing and its application to precision medicine,” An Pediatr 85, no. º 5 (2016): 273.e1- 273.e7. Last access: April 2024.
5 Spanish Association of Lung Cancer Patients, “Treatments: types of treatments” AEACaP. Last access: April 2024.
Fountain: PICA
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