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International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners
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Vol 20, No. 1 May 2018
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Oncology Pharmacy Around the World
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Message from the Editor
Dear
We are trying out a new format for the Newsletter, as we combine the quarterly newsletter with the bi-monthly Staying in Touch
news from the Secretariat into one regular member communication.
Please email me your ideas and suggestions on preferred format and any other changes you would like to see to the way ISOPP communicates with you. I can be reached via
newsletter@isopp.org.
Please also let me know if you are interested in submitting an article for the newsletter or joining the Communications/Newsletter work group!
I look forward to hearing from you!
Kind regards
Evelyn Handel
ISOPP Newsletter Editor
This Newsletter Summary provides a brief introduction/summary to each article. In order to access the full article, login to the isopp.org website then click on the 'read more' button at the end of each article's introduction. In addition, at the end of each full article there is the opportunity for you to write comments about the article and start up a discussion forum.
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Message from the President
Dear
ISOPP's XVII Symposium in Shanghai was a great success on all accounts. Bo Yu, Symposium Chair and the SACA (Shanghai Anticancer Association) welcomed over
300 oncology practitioners from
33 countries, and
21
sponsors and
16
exhibitors, to China by organizing an event to remember, sharing their warm and gracious hospitality and leaving us wanting more. We have also successfully conducted two masterclasses after the Symposium.
Many thanks also goes to the Planning and Program Task Force members for their outstanding contribution ensuring that, not only those in attendance could connect, learn, share and engage, but also those who weren't physically at the Symposium. Hopefully, if you weren't there in person, you connected and engaged through the App, social media and the website, and now you have the opportunity to learn and share by watching the video presentations through the
Virtual Library.
Other ISOPP news is that the Standards Review Task Force has been making great progress on updating the Standards of Practice, and now has
eight new chapters drafted requiring your input and feedback (see below for more details and on how to give your feedback). Also, the Advocacy Task Force report provides information on how to apply for
UICC Technical Fellowships and how to submit vignettes for the UICC
Treatment For All campaign.
The articles in the
Oncology Pharmacy Around the World section of the newsletter enlighten us on what some of our members have experienced and learnt at other Oncology Pharmacy Conferences around the world including ISOPP's Symposium and
ISOPP's Masterclasses.
I am delighted and honoured to have the responsibility of leading this amazing organization for the next two years and would like to thank Mrs. Harbans Dhillon for her leadership and accomplishments. I am thrilled she will remain on the Secretariat in the role of Past President. In addition, I look forward to working with the entire
volunteer leadership and thank them and all the members who support them for their dedication and expertise.
I encourage you to explore the
About section of the website for an update on who your leaders are, and also to email me at
president@isopp.org if you wish to participate on any of the committees, task forces and work groups. Also, please email me suggestions and ideas that you may have.
I look forward to hearing from you and being of service. Enjoy the articles and ISOPP business news updates.
Sincerely
Alex Chan
ISOPP President
PS Save the date for ISOPP's 2019 Symposium in London, UK, October 10 to 13!
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| Oncology Pharmacy Around the World |
ACOS Conference Summary
By Naiyarat Prasongsook, Medical Oncologist and Instructor, Phramongkutklao Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand
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Participants making connections at ACOS
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T
he 13th International Conference of the Asian Clinical Oncology Society (ACOS) was held on 23-25 February, 2018 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which was organized by Prof. Dr. Sumitra Thongprasert who was the ACOS 2018 organizing committee and conference president.
ACOS was first established in October 1991 by Professor Emeritus Tetsuo Taguchi at Osaka University and group of physicians from several Asian countries, and is held every two years in the Asia Pacific region.
The objectives are to ensure the care of Asian cancer patients by implementing multidisciplinary treatments and to update scientific knowledge through a review of cancer research and having scientific exchanges among Asian countries.
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ISOPP-TUKED Collaboration & ISOPP Masterclass in Turkey
Gozde Yesilyaprak, (BSPharm, MSci in Clinical Pharmacy, MSci in Health Economics)
Aygin Ekincioglu (PhD
in Clinical Pharmacy, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy)
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| Alex Chan facilitating ISOPP-TUKED Masterclass |
The TÜKED (Turkish Public Pharmacists Association) started communications with the ISOPP regarding professional collaboration in 2015 and the societies mutually agreed on initiating collaborative activities in order to promote and improve oncology pharmacy practice.
The ISOPP President Harbans Dhillon and President-elect Alex Chan honored us by attending the 5th National Congress of TUKED which was held between 7th and 11th March 2018 in Antalya, Turkey. Since the 1st National Congress of TÜKED in 2012, interest and participation has increased by each year and we hosted over 900 participants from hospitals, institutions, as well as industry exhibitors this year.
The scientific program consisted of a variety of sessions related to pharmacy practice in general such as rational drug use in diabetes, poisoning and antidotes, hot topics in nutrition, immunogenicity in biosimilars, radiopharmaceuticals, hematology-oncology practices, rational drug use in the treatment of depression, compounding & compounded medications, infectious
diseases, complementary and/or herbal medicines, and management of medical equipment and disposables.
Read more...
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HOPA
14
th Annual Conference
By Lisa Holle, Associate Clinical Professor, University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA
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| Networking with colleagues: Robin Mower, Lisa Holle and Kellie Jones Weddle |
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The 14th Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) Annual Conference was held March 21-24, 2018 in Denver, Colorado, United States. Denver is located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, with a panoramic view of 140 miles of mountain peaks, 13 of which are greater than 13,000 feet. The 14th HOPA annual conference was attended by over 1,300 pharmacists who care for patients with cancer and had the theme of Targeting the Future of Oncology Pharmacy.
A pre-conference "bootcamp" session on Wednesday morning focused on practice management covering topics of formulary management, inventory control, financial reimbursement, and transitioning into a leadership position. The main conference opened by a welcoming address by the HOPA President, Susannah Koontz and induction of 3 fellows of HOPA (FHOPA). Some of you probably met one of these, Sachin Shah, ISOPP member from Texas Tech University in the United States who joined us last year at the ISOPP Symposium in Hungary. HOPA offers 8 hours of live board certification of oncology pharmacy credits. This year topics included novel clinical oncology trial designs and updates in head and neck cancer, management of CAR-T cell therapy, multiple myeloma, neuroblastoma, physician-assisted suicide and palliative care, and urothelial cancers. The HOPA Award of Excellence was awarded to HOPA (and ISOPP) member R. Donald Harvey of Emory University for his sustained excellence in creating an innovative role for a pharmacist as director of a Phase I program.
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A Report of ISOPP's International Symposium on Oncology Pharmacy, 2018 in Shanghai, China
By Himanshu Patel, AmerisourceBergen, Pickering, Canada
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Himanshu Patel at ISOPP 2018
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First of all my heartfelt thanks to ISOPP for providing me an opportunity to attend the ISOPP 2018 symposium in Shanghai, China. Visiting the ISOPP symposium provides a unique opportunity to learn oncology pharmacy, strengthen ideas in practice & research, and to make new pharmacists friends and beyond boundary fun.
My ISOPP 2018 experience in Shanghai was very refreshing and useful in strengthening knowledge in key areas like oral anti-cancer agents, novel trial designs in oncology, interprofessional collaborative oncology practice, dose banding, solid tumour updates and opioid addiction in cancer patients. Coming to research related sessions like the role of the pharmacist in investigational agents, student research presentations, platform presentations and posters covered broader aspects of oncology pharmacy research and its applications. The session on the role of Chinese medicine in cancer care and the joint symposium with JASPO (Japanese Society of Pharmaceutical Oncology) emphasized the importance of alternative medicines and the oncology practice scenario in Japan respectively.
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Standards of Practice, 8 New Draft Chapters for Review
It is with great pleasure that we, Johan Vandenbroucke, and Shaun O'Connor, Co-Chairs of the
Standards Task Force, present eight new draft chapters of the soon to be released updated ISOPP Standards of Practice, on behalf of the ISOPP Standards Review Task Force.
You can find the new draft chapters on the ISOPP website by following this link after logging in as a member.
Please share your comments, reflections, suggestions, concerns, tips, agreements or non-agreeme
nts with me and Shaun via email at
standards@isopp.org
, prior to June 30, 2018, keeping in mind that a Medical Writer will be hired to focus on grammar, layout etc.
The comment period is open until the end of June. After that period, all comments will be reviewed and taken into consideration. The Task Force and ISOPP needs your input and support in order for this most valuab
le and important project to succeed.
Also, as of July, the Task Force will review the existing chapters, update and reorganize them prior to requesting your input and feedback on the revised chapters as well. More news on this step will follow later.
Thank you for helping ISOPP and making the ISOPP standards the Global standard, which by the way is the most cited standard internationally. Thank you as well to the
volunteers who spent the last year creating them. As ISOPP is a global organisation, we are looking for global acceptance and reflection.
Standards Review Task Force Co-Chairs
Johan Vandenbroucke and Shaun O'Connor
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News from the Advocacy Task Force
For those of you that were unable to make it to the ISOPP Meeting in Shanghai, or couldn't make it to the AGM; I want to share some highlights from my report. Firstly and most importantly; ISOPP Members are now able to apply for UICC Technical Fellowships. These fellowships provide funding for recipients to visit another centre to learn/be mentored in a skill that the pharmacist does not currently possess and will be of benefit to the recipient and their current institution. Applicants will be required to have their manager or a senior institutional administrator 'sign off' on their application. The funding varies with how far/where the recipient wants to travel to, but could potentially fund between 2-4 weeks of extramural training/mentorship.
These fellowships are available year round, so you can apply at any time throughout the year. If you apply and are successful in receiving one of these Fellowships, please let me know via email at
john.wiernikowski@gmail.com so we can share your success with the ISOPP Community. If you are a potential mentor (have a unique practice or skill set) and would be interested in having a UICC Fellow for up to 4 weeks, then please share your contact information/practice focus with me at the above email address. We will compile a list of Sites/Mentors for applicants.
The other significant development is the
Treatment For All campaign launched by the UICC earlier this year. ISOPP is participating in that campaign to build oncology pharmacy capacity in low and middle income countries with an initial focus on Africa. As part of that campaign we have been asking for and continue to need your Pharmacy "Vignettes" or Testimonials. Testimonials from Low and Middle income countries would be particularly helpful.
What the UICC needs, as part of its media campaign, is a series of "Vignettes" focused around the topic/theme of "What my Oncology Pharmacist does for me/our Institution". These can be of varying length ranging from "Tweet" size (144-288 characters) to Narratives of 250-500 words and can/should be from: Patients & Families, Managers/Administrators, Oncologists, Nurses, other Allied Health professionals.
The vignettes should ideally:
- Span the breadth of services Pharmacists provide, including: clinical, patient safety, cost-effective inventory management, reduction in waste etc.
- Include the name and status of the provider and where they are located (e.g. Ted Smith, Cancer Patient, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, CANADA Margaret Hobbs, Senior Administrator, Cancer Program, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, CANADA).
The more vignettes we can provide to UICC the better. ISOPP is soliciting these through its global membership, and I am requesting you to share or write a quick "Tweet" / short Narrative to help us with this endeavor.
Please submit "vignettes" to me via email at
john.wiernikowski@gmail.com at your earliest convenience and I will collate and share them with ISOPP and the UICC. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Finally, if you are interested in serving on the Task Force, please join us! We are planning to be involved in the next iteration of WHO Essential Medicine lists reviews that will be occurring later this year. It's a very focused and busy time, so the more people we can call on to help with the task and provide feedback/insight the better.
John Wiernikowski, PharmD, FISOPP, FCAPhO
ISOPP Advocacy Task Force Chair
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Virtual Education Resource Library: Video Presentations from ISOPP 2018
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The ISOPP 2018 presentation recordings are available in ISOPP's Virtual Education Resource Library (Virtual Library).
If you attended the 2018 Symposium or have previously purchased
Virtual Library access, log in to the
ISOPP website and visit the Virtual Library to view the new video presentations. Symposium participants receive complimentary access to the 2018 content for one year!
If you did not attend the Symposium, and would like access to the video presentation recordings, visit the
Virtual Library page for purchasing information.
ISOPP's
Virtual Library serves as a hub for oncology pharmacy practitioners from around the world to access the breadth and depth of knowledge of ISOPP members and others on a 24-hour basis.
The
Virtual Library is a discerning tool that provides user-friendly access to unique, digit all y created educational and topic-specific resources. It extends the reach of presentations and research papers presented at ISOPP Symposia, regional meetings, webinars, and of ISOPP-created training materials to those needing the information, when and wherever they need it - 24/7 and worldwide.
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Virtual Journal Club
Accessing JOPP is easy! Log in as a member, go to the JOPP Access page and click the Access JOPP button. You have instant access.
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Development of a flowchart for risk assessment and allocation of preparation of monoclonal antibodies"
Journal of Oncology Pharmacy Practice
Tiene Bauters and Johan Vandenbroucke
JOPP First Published 3 December 2017
Monoclonal antibodies (MABs), a novel therapeutic class, are used in several diseases including cancer. A question remains unanswered - do these drugs require safe handling precautions? This elegant paper describes the process used to create a flowchart to determine whether or not a MAB needs to be prepared as per a cytotoxic drug or can it be prepared on the ward. The flowchart takes into account not only toxicity but also practical and financial issues. This flowchart will be useful to all workplaces where MABs are used whatever their indication.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the importance of safe handling monoclonal antibodies (MABs) and;
- Describe the allocation of preparation of MABs taking into account toxicity criteria, immunogenicity and practical/financial issues.
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BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia"
Journal of Oncology Pharmacy Practice
Cuellar, S et al.
JOPP First Published 4 June 2017
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the NCCN Guidelines® for monitoring patient response to medication and treatment recommendations for patients with CML;
- Be aware of potential drug-drug interactions that could affect TKI efficacy or initiate other negative side effects in patients with concomitant medications/comorbid conditions;
- Describe mechanisms to promote medication adherence in patients to ensure optimal treatment responses; and
- Develop an understanding of how each BCR-ABL1 TKI has its own unique safety profile and sensitivity to BCR-ABL1 mutations, which need to be taken into account for each individual patient when prescribing a TKI.
As a reminder, ISOPP's Virtual Journal Club features online articles from the Journal of Oncology Pharmacy Practice (
JOPP
). Members are encouraged to read articles and then answer a series of multiple choice questions through the
Virtual Journal Club Surveys
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After completing the questionnaire, a certificate will be emailed to you. Although not formally accredited for continuing medical education (CME) points, participation is equal to one hour of CME activity.
Members are also encouraged to use the Member Discussion Forum to stimulate discussion about articles they have read. Your
ISOPP membership
provides many great benefits and we are hopeful you will find the Virtual Journal Club another asset to your oncology pharmacy practice.
Regards
Felice Musicco
Communications Work Group Key Lead
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Masterclass
Practical workshop specific to the needs of oncology pharmacy practitioners, facilitated by
ISOPP leaders and oncology pharmacy experts.
The next offering is:
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Windsor Oceanico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Facilitators:
Alexandre Chan, National University of Singapore, Singapore
John Wiernikowski, McMaster Children's Hospital, Canada
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| Save the Date! |
JOPP Access
Accessing JOPP is easy. Log in as a member, go to the
JOPP Access page and click the Access JOPP button. You have instant access.
Last year, JOPP was awarded an Impact Factor of 1.735, ranking it 170/217 in Oncology and 183/256 in Pharmacology & Pharmacy. This is a great testament to the commitment of the Editors and Editorial Board, who wish to thank the authors and reviewers for their dedication and hard work.
All JOPP content from 2014 onwards is now indexed in the Web of Science (which is subscribed to by over 5,000 institutions in 100+ countries), making the content more visible than ever.
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Host a Future ISOPP Symposium
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Meet n' Greet
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Did you know that you can gather colleagues for an ISOPP "meet n' greet" at a conference you attend to say hello and share the benefits of ISOPP membership?
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ISOPP Sponsored Membership Program
Given that personal or regional financial situations may affect a person's decision to become an ISOPP member, continue their membership or have access to the Virtual Library, ISOPP offers a Sponsored Membership and Sponsored Virtual Library Program.
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Calendar of Events
Stay up to date with upcoming conferences and events happening around the world by visiting the
Calendar of Events located under the "Communication" menu on the ISOPP website.
If you know of a related event and would like to see it on the Calendar of Events, please contact
services@isopp.org
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ISOPP's Society and Symposium Management Office
Sea to Sky Meeting and Association Management
is ISOPP's Society and Symposium Management Office. If you have any questions about membership, services, Symposium or the Society, please contact the ISOPP Office directly as follows:
Direct: +1-604-984-6448
Fax: +1-604-984-6434
Suite 206, 201 Bewicke Avenue
North Vancouver, BC Canada V7M 3M7
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