Opinion

Jill Feldman: We need a shift in the Adverse Event grading system

Jill Feldman/X

Jun 24, 2024, 02:03

Jill Feldman: We need a shift in the Adverse Event grading system

Jill Feldman shared a post on X:

“Just thinking, I strongly advocate changing the dose selection process to a minimal effective dose (balance efficacy with QOL), but I also think we need a shift in the Adverse Event (AE) grading system to include impact, not just safety.

Pro’s are invaluable for understanding the patient experience, but they’re limited, and truth is, the AE grading system is still the go-to metric for tolerability.

However, the grading system captures safety, not tolerability It lacks context and fails to capture impact.

This is a significant problem and it’s misleading, therefore, dosing is too, which results in unnecessary suffering while also ignoring the experiences of those who endure these treatments. Plus, only patients can determine if treatment is tolerable!”

Source: Jill Feldman/X

Jill Feldman is a lung cancer patient and advocate. She is the Co-Founder EGFR Resisters, an advocacy group of EGFR positive lung cancer patients who are resistant to targeted treatment. She is the Past President of the LUNGevity Foundation, Deputy Chair of IASLC’s patient advisory board and a member of The Chicago Institute of Translational Medicine’s patient advisory board.

Jill is committed to understanding and promoting patient-centered research as a member of the programmatic panel for the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program, as a planning committee member on IASLC’s North America Conference on Lung cancer and as a member of the the ECOG-ACRIN Research Group’s patient advocate committee and thoracic committee.