Hong Kong Precision Oncology Society
The Hong Kong Precision Oncology Society (HKPOS) was formed by a group of clinical oncologists and bio-medical scientists with the aim of providing a platform for multidisciplinary and international collaborations in research, education and clinical applications of new science and technologies that would potentially transform oncological practice in the coming decade.
We advocate when we develop a new test or treatment, we should stick to the principles of scientific rigor (rather than meta-science) in the processes of development. Clinical utility assessment should be based on the only two valid clinical endpoints namely overall survival and quality of life, and evidence of improvement over existing practice based on clinical studies on human subjects (not necessarily randomized phase III studies if not feasible, although these are the gold standards).
For years, the HKPOS have been advocating innovations through seamless multidisciplinary collaborations in order to shorten the lag time between discoveries in the laboratories and clinical applications.
On the other hand, medical ethics should still be our prime priority. Most of the time, the bottle neck is the recruitment of sufficient number of human subjects into clinical studies. The huge population in the pan-pacific regions with immense demand for the best innovative medical care and services offers a golden opportunity to achieve that within a short time.