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To mark Lung Cancer Awareness Month and empower patients and the wider community, Pfizer launched its month-long awareness campaign today across the Gulf region.

Lung cancer is one of the top three death-causing cancers in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain – and the sixth one in Oman. Pfizer’s campaign aims to support patients with an awareness of early detection, treatment options, and advances in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) to improve patient outcomes, increase biomarker testing and reduce high mortality rates.

Lung cancer remains the number one cause of cancer-related death worldwide and is challenging to treat due to the disease’s heterogeneous nature, variability in testing rates, and the onset of drug resistance. NSCLC is a disease in which cancer cells form in the tissues of the lung.

The challenges with lung cancer call for an individualized approach to treatment and a focus on ensuring that patients are promptly treated with the right treatments. In the last decade, the discovery of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and Immune oncology (IOs) along with integrating biomarker-driven therapies has considerably improved outcomes for people diagnosed with NSCLC.

Mohamed Okasha, Oncology Therapy Area Lead, Pfizer AfME, commented: "A patient-centric approach is at the core of our work. We remain committed to staying at the forefront of fighting lung cancer by forging alliances with leading researchers, healthcare professionals, government institutions, and patient groups to improve patient outcomes. While early diagnosis is crucial and improves outcomes, in recent years, gene abnormalities testing plays a significant role in disease control, as it offers valuable insight that helps inform treatment decisions. Pfizer is partnering with leading diagnostics companies, pharma companies and local authorities to expand biomarkers testing platforms for lung cancer, as they help identify best treatment option for individual patients and ultimately improve cancer control as well as patients’ quality of life.”

Pfizer also reaffirmed its commitment to spread awareness around the dangers of tobacco usage through national campaigns and invest in smoking cessation clinics to help patients, as data shows smoking remains the leading cause of lung cancer in the region.

Pfizer focuses on advancing the science of lung cancer and provides resources to people living with these deadly diseases. The company’s longstanding commitment to developing medicines for lung cancer started with creating the world’s first breakthrough biomarker-driven therapy for a rare NSCLC forms (ALK-positive and ROS1) and recently a new breakthrough therapy in a considerable form of NSCLC (EGFR). The company is working closely with local authorities across the whole region to continue bringing breakthrough medicines as fast as possible following FDA approvals.