Head of Oncology at Pharma Giant AstraZeneca Leader Says Closing The Education & Care Gap For Community Patients And Doctors Is Crucial

SurvivorNet recently sat down with Mohit Manrao , the senior vice president and head of U.S. oncology for pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. We feel it’s important that patients hear from leaders in the cancer community with heavy influence on development of treatments.

Ongoing Progress for Breast Cancer Patients

Manrao's division has achieved a significant breakthrough in the phase 3 DESTINY-Breast06 Trial, a beacon of hope for women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-low metastatic breast cancer. The use of Enhertu, an antibody-drug-conjugate jointly developed and marketed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo, WATCH: HER2-Low, A New Classification Of Breast Cancer, Expands The Use Of Enhertu For Metastatic Patients “We are bringing in new treatments and therapies opening up for more patients who would really benefit from it, as is evident from our DESTINY-Breast06 data, which is showing that our ADC, ENHERTU, can replace chemotherapy in the frontline setting for patients as they have progressed on the endocrine therapies,” Manrao told SurvivorNet. Manrao is among the most influential people in the world of oncology and is very important in driving progress in cancer treatment.

Using AI to Identify Gaps In Care at the Community Level

AstraZeneca’s SVP and head of U.S. Oncology says he’s very aware of the ongoing issues facing community hospitals, which provide care for the majority of patients. His solution is investing in more technology and AI (artificial intelligence) to help identify barriers to patient health. He says barriers to adequate healthcare, which may include transportation, time spent in treatments, and the time it takes to get test results, should all be a focus. “Being able to identify where are the care gaps and using technology to solve for those care gaps so that at the zip code level, either the diagnostic or education or patient support or different barriers are solved for by understanding them through technology,” Manrao explained.

Manrao points to the benefits of added technology at the community level. “It is really opening up avenues to move faster at scale at every zip code level… whether it is in an electronic medical record (EMR) system, education through prompts and education through point of care information in the NCCN guidelines,” Manrao explains. He also points to AstraZeneca, which is already using AI technology to better understand patients' unmet needs, from developing treatments to cancer prevention. One such example is AI helping the company analyze various socioeconomic and geographic factors to pinpoint who needs enhanced cancer screening. “There are specific areas in the U.S. that are prone to lung cancer incidents being higher,” Manrao said. Technology can collect and analyze socioeconomic and air pollution data and assess an area’s cancer risk. “Once you understand that, you could be sending screening buses into those places versus patients having to travel miles to get their screening and follow-ups done,” he explained.

Targeting Diverse Populations for Clinical Trials Using Technology

Clinical trials help doctors discover more effective treatment methods and allow patients to try treatments before they are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which can be potentially life-saving. However, the majority of clinical trial participants are white, with few people of color participating. WATCH: Clinical trials can be life-saving. Manrao says AstraZeneca believes AI can help close this critical gap in clinical trial participation. “Going into a clinical trial, using AI, we are able to understand where those specific patients – diverse patient populations – are, how to identify them and get them an option of getting on a clinical trial,” Manrao explained. RELATED: Cancer Trials Need More Black Participants; Here’s How We Can Close the Gap on Racial Disparities in Cancer Care Manrao emphasizes that AstraZeneca's commitment to improving access to the latest advancements in care is not just a corporate priority but a mission to bring hope and optimism to millions of patients on the community level. Moving forward, Manrao hopes to continue utilizing advancements in science and technology to improve the overall quality of care and access to care across all zip codes. This latest chapter in modern medicine aims to achieve one of Manrao’s most pressing goals – “Turn cancer into a chronic disease and eliminate cancer as a cause of death.”