GI CONNECT members authored a paper ‘Reconsidering the benefit of intermittent versus continuous treatment in the maintenance treatment setting of metastatic colorectal cancer’ with the aim to reconsider the evidence for clinical benefit of intermittent versus continuous treatment in the maintenance treatment setting of mCRC and to evaluate the effect of RAS and BRAF mutational status on maintenance strategies. Access the paper published in Cancer Treatment Reviews and download slides of the key highlights.

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD is a Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. He is the Chair for Hematology and Medical Oncology for the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. He is the leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancer for the Enterprise-wide Mayo Clinic Cancer Center Dr. Bekaii-Saab is currently the co-leader of the Hepatobiliary Cancer Sub-Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and the Co-Chair for the National Cancer Institute’s Hepatobiliary Task Force.

 

Dr. Bekaii-Saab earned his medical degree from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and completed a residency in internal medicine at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He then completed fellowships in clinical pharmacology and experimental therapeutics and hematology/oncology at Tufts University/New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.


Dr. Bekaii-Saab served as a reviewer for many high impact journals and sits on the editorial board of the prestigious Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Bekaii-Saab has authored or co-authored more than 500 peer reviewed publications, abstracts, and book chapters, including papers in such journals as New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, JAMA, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Annals of Oncology, and Clinical Cancer Research.

Prof. Tanios Bekaii-Saab has received financial support/sponsorship for research support, consultation, or speaker fees from the following companies:

Research Funding (to institution): Agios, Arys, Arcus, Atreca, Boston Biomedical, Bayer, Eisai, Celgene, Lilly, Ipsen, Clovis, Seattle Genetics, Genentech, Novartis, Mirati, Merus, Abgenomics, Incyte, Pfizer, BMS. Consulting (to institution): Servier, Ipsen, Arcus, Pfizer, Seattle Genetics, Bayer, Genentech, Incyte, Eisai, Merus, Merck KGaA and Merck. Consulting (to self): Stemline, AbbVie, Blueprint Medicines , Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen, Daiichi Sankyo, Natera, TreosBio, Celularity, Caladrius Biosciences, Exact Science, Sobi, Beigene, Kanaph, AstraZeneca, Deciphera, Zai Labs, Exelixis, MJH Life Sciences, Aptitude Health, Illumina, Foundation Medicine and Sanofi. Glaxo SmithKline , Xilio. IDMC/DSMB: The Valley Hospital, Fibrogen, Suzhou Kintor, AstraZeneca, Exelixis, Merck/Eisai, PanCan and 1Globe.  Scientific Advisory Board: Imugene, Immuneering, Xilis, Replimune, Artiva and Sun Biopharma. Royalties: Uptodate. Inventions/Patents: WO/2018/183488: HUMAN PD1 PEPTIDE VACCINES AND USES THEREOF – Licensed to Imugene, WO/2019/055687: METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR THE TREATMENT OF CANCER CACHEXIA – Licensed to Recursion

Dr Yu Sunakawa is a medical oncologist at St. Marianna University, Japan and previously worked as an instructor at Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital in Yokohama, Japan. He also completed postdoctoral research fellowship training at University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in United States. In 2011, Dr Sunakawa received the board certification of the Japanese Society of Medical Oncology. Dr Sunakawa’s research interests are the identification and determination of molecular markers in cancerous tissues or blood that could predict cancer risk and clinical outcome in gastrointestinal cancer. He is also focusing on research regarding tumour immunity and received a Merit Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2014, for the research of genetic variations in immune checkpoint-related genes.

Assoc. Prof. Yu Sunakawa has received financial support/sponsorship for research support, consultation, or speaker fees from the following companies:

Bayer, Bristol-Myers, Biopharma, Chugai Pharm, Daiichi-Sankyo, Gurdant, Lilly, Ono Pharm, Sanofi, Sysmex, Takeda and Tahio Pharm.

Sebastian Stintzing (M.D.), Professor of Medicine, is Head of the Department of Hematology, Oncology and Cancer Immunology (CCM), Charité - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin. His research focuses on the treatment of GI cancer with a special focus on colorectal cancer. From 2012 to 2014, he was a research fellow at the Sharon Carpenter Laboratory at the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, U.S.A. He coordinated the translational part and assisted the clinical study conduct of several studies and earned his Postdoctoral Lecture Qualification with a thesis on prognostic and predictive factors in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. In 2012, he received the prestigious Research Fellowship Award from the German Cancer Aid in Germany. Prof. Stintzing is member of national and international cancer associations, member of the German S3 Guideline committee for colorectal cancer, and member of the steering committee of the working group Colorectal Carcinoma of the German AIO.

Prof. Sebastian Stintzing has received financial support/sponsorship for research support, consultation, or speaker fees from the following companies:

AMGEN, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMS, CV6, Eisai, Isofol, Lilly, Merck KGaA, MSD, Pierre Fabre, Roche, Sanofi, Taiho, Takeda

Programme summary
View the paper
Share this programme
This educational programme is supported by an Independent Educational Grant from Bayer
Supporter Acknowledgement
This educational programme is supported by an Independent Educational Grant from Bayer
I agree that this educational programme:

Was valuable to me

1/4
Brought to you by
GI CONNECT

GI CONNECT is an initiative of COR2ED, supported by Independent Educational Grants from Bayer, Ipsen, BeiGene Europe, Pierre Fabre Laboratories, Amgen and AstraZeneca US.  

Meet the experts Independent IME approved

Other programmes of interest

conference-update Conference update
Oncology 
Oncogene-addicted NSCLC highlights from ELCC 2026

Expert insights on the latest NSCLC data

Experts
Prof. Nicolas Girard
Endorsed by
ICAN international cancer advocacy network Biomarker Collaborative Exon20group
ISLB Lung Cancer Europe
  • download Downloadable
    Resources
  • clock 4 MIN
  • calendar Mar 2026
  • Non-accredited Independent Medical Education

Educational programme supported by an Independent Educational Grant from Bayer.
podcast Video podcast
Oncology 
Pre-analytical phase challenges and biomarker testing in HER2+ metastatic breast cancer

Experts
Dr Carlos Barrios, Prof. Gary Tse, Oncology Brothers (Moderators)
Endorsed by
Biomarker Collaborative
  • download Downloadable
    Resources
  • clock 23 MIN
  • calendar Mar 2026
  • Non-accredited Independent Medical Education

Educational programme supported by an Independent Educational Grant from Daiichi Sankyo 
eks
EKS / On-demand webinar
Oncology 
Multiple Myeloma: Is it time to rethink how we sequence treatments?

On-demand materials from an Experts Knowledge Share event

Experts
Prof. Karthik Ramasamy, Dr Joshua Richter, Dr Faisal Basheer, Dr Andrew Charlton
  • download Downloadable
    Resources
  • clock 80 MIN
  • calendar Mar 2026

This programme has been sponsored by Menarini Stemline and is intended for HCPs in the UK only    MAT-GB-SEL-00774
conference-update Conference update

Episode

2

of 2

episode
Oncology Rare diseases Endocrinology 
Actualités du Congrès l’ENETS 2026

Points de vue d’experts sur les dernières données concernant le cancer neuroendocrinien

Experts
Prof. Louis de Mestier, Prof. Timon Vandamme, Dr Alice Durand
  • clock 5 MIN
  • calendar Mar 2026
  • Non-accredited Independent Medical Education

Cette vidéo est soutenue par une subvention indépendante à visée éducative d’Ipsen.  Les contenus publiés sur ce site internet sont sous la responsabilité de leurs auteurs. Certaines données scientifiques publiées sur ce site sont susceptibles de ne pas être validées par la commission d’Autorisation de Mise sur le Marché, et ne doivent pas être mises en pratique. Elles doivent être lues et comprises avec le plus grand discernement et sont données dans leur cadre de la diffusion de l’information sur l’état actuel de la recherche auprès de la communauté scientifique internationale  
conference-update Conference update

Episode

1

of 2

episode
Oncology Rare diseases Endocrinology 
Update from ENETS 2026

Experts share their views on latest data in neuroendocrine cancer

Experts
Prof. Louis de Mestier, Prof. Timon Vandamme, Dr Alice Durand
  • clock 5 MIN
  • calendar Mar 2026
  • Non-accredited Independent Medical Education

This educational programme is supported by an Independent Educational Grant from Ipsen. The content published on this website is under the responsibility of its authors. Some scientific data published on this website may not have been validated by the relevant Marketing Authorisation Committees and should not be put into practice. It should be read and understood with the utmost discernment and is provided for the purpose of disseminating information on the current state of research to the international scientific community.
patient-support Patient Support
Oncology Hemato-oncology Pediatrics 
Personalised treatment in childhood cancer: A journey through NTRK fusion testing

Experts
Linet Menachery
Endorsed by
NTRKers ICAN international cancer advocacy network Biomarker Collaborative
  • clock 4 MIN
  • calendar Mar 2026
  • Non-accredited Independent Medical Education

Educational programme supported by an Independent Educational Grant from Bayer.