Advancing Critical Pathways Forward in the Treatment of Colorectal and Kidney Cancer -... -- CHICAGO, May 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- CHICAGO, May 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Angiogenesis Foundation will release two new white papers, in conjunction with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which address the needs, challenges, and proposed solutions to improve outcomes in two of the top ten most common cancers in the United States: metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC), also known as kidney cancer. The white papers, "Advancing Outcomes for the Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer" and "Critical Pathways Forward in the Treatment of Renal Cell Carcinoma," were developed following two expert summits convened by the Angiogenesis Foundation, in which multidisciplinary groups of leading experts assessed recent progress in the field and identified challenges to and action steps for optimizing patient care. New targeted drugs that have been FDA approved since 2004 have shifted the paradigm of how oncologists treat both cancers, and the standard of care now involves treatments aimed at interfering with angiogenesis, new blood vessel growth, which supplies tumors with oxygen and nutrients. Antiangiogenic treatments have increased both the survival of patients suffering from these diseases and their quality of life. Targeting the blood supply of cancer has revolutionized oncology, and it has become the backbone for treating both colorectal cancer and kidney cancer. With a growing number of options to choose from, the big challenge now is to find out how to maximize the benefit patients can receive from the treatments, and how to ensure patients have access to the best available care," commented Dr. William Li, President and Medical Director of the Angiogenesis Foundation. Many obstacles can exist for cancer patients seeking best available treatments. The white papers address the state of the field, identify desired future goals and the barriers to those goals, and make recommendations for action steps to be taken by advocacy leaders, oncologists, and the cancer community as a whole. They will be distributed at the ASCO meeting at the Angiogenesis Foundation's advocacy exhibit booth. The white papers can be downloaded at www.scienceofcrc.org/mCRC-whitepaper and www.angio.org/RCC-whitepaper. The Angiogenesis Foundation (www.angio.org) is a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, MA, USA that works with multiple stakeholders and leads international programs to improve health through treatments based on angiogenesis, the process of new blood vessel growth.