On April 28th-30th 2023, 89 Melanoma patients, carers and patient advocates from 24 countries within and outside the European Union met for the first full annual MPNE meeting since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
The majority of the participants had cutaneous Melanoma, but we had participants with ocular, mucosal, acral and paediatric Melanoma despite the focus of the meeting being on cutaneous Melanoma. 22% of the participants had early Melanoma (Stage 1 and 2), 78% late Stage Melanoma (Stage 3 and Stage 4), the proportion of Stage 4 patients was 55%.
The full conference program is available here.
EDGE remained MPNE's annual conference theme, with sessions on the latest therapeutic and scientific developments in Melanoma but also topics like data, early access and novel models for drug development.
New were the increased presence and involvement from the diverse European projects MPNE is involved in. Friday started with a joint satellite workshop with PMC4EU, a European project funded under the EU4Health program on access to precision diagnostics, followed by the kick-off of MELCAYA, a Horizon Europe Cancer Mission project on Melanoma in children and young adults. And on Saturday, a dedicated session with our colleagues from iToBoS, a project building a total Body Scanner for the early detection of Melanoma funded under the previous European program, Horizon2020.
Quality of life was a thread running through the entire meeting- just as it is relevant for all stages of Melanoma.
And since our last full conference in 2019, our advocacy concepts have evolved noticeably- and ending on an exercise of drafting a theory of change was therefore highly fitting!
A detailed conference report is in preparation and will be shared in due course.
Annual conferences are always the work of many and we thank everyone who contributed in any shape or form- in the organisation, as speakers, through active participation and last but not least those whose financial support only made the event possible!
MPNE2023 was made possible thanks to the support of
and three projects funded by the European Uni
on:
