It was with a lot of optimism and satisfaction that we wrapped up Friends of Max Leadership Summit 2025, themed “The Resurgence: Reconnect & Recharge,” held on March 8th and 9th at Tata Medical Center, Kolkata!
FOM’s core group of City Chapter Leaders from across the country — many of whom are directly impacted by CML or GIST — came together to celebrate two decades of sharing and learning as well as impactful interventions and gear up for the next milestone of 25 years!
One of the important highlight of this meeting was the Medical Panel Discussion on Sunday morning. We were joined by some of our physician partners who along with highlighting accepted management protocols also explored exciting new opportunities in CML and GIST treatment modalities. Over a very interactive discussion moderated by our City Chapter Leaders Dr Jude Vaz and Dr Raghu Krishnaswamy the panel also addressed the challenges related to long-term survival and access to new drugs.
Areas touched upon:
• The evolution from Imatinib to Asciminib and beyond
• Off -target side effects of TKIs,
• Best practices for managing patients over long-term treatment, and
• The challenges of addressing side effects from prolonged therapy—both from the perspectives of treating physicians and patients
• Pros and cons of Treatment-Free Remission (TFR)
We are grateful to our panelists and medical advisors (Dr Pankaj Malhotra, Professor & Head, Dept. of Clinical Hematology & Medical Oncology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, PGIMER, Dr Hemant Malhotra, Director, Oncology Services, Sri Ram Cancer & Super-Specialty Center & Professor & Head, Dept. of Medical Oncology, Mahatma Gandhi University of Medical Sciences & Technology Jaipur, Dr Arijit Nag, Consultant, Clinical Hematology and Cellular Therapy, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, Dr Shouriyo Ghosh, Associate Consultant, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, Dr Mohandas Mallath, Retired Senior Consultant in Department of Digestive Diseases, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata and Dr Alok Shetty, Assistant Professor, (Adult HematoLymphoid Unit), Dept. of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital , Mumbai) for giving us their time and sharing their valuable insights. Their expertise and guidance continue to empower us, to better manage and uplift our FOM members and the CML and GIST community at large.
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