The ESMO-MCBS Working Group is committed in maintaining and updating the scale and its main achievements are reported below.
Pivotal articles
- In 2023, the article ‘ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale for Haematological Malignancies (ESMO-MCBS:H) Version 1.0’ has been published in Annals of Oncology.
- In 2022, the article ‘Methodological and reporting standards for quality-of-life data eligible for European Society for Medical Oncology-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) credit’ has been published in Annals of Oncology.
- In 2021, the article 'Biases in study design, implementation, and data analysis that distort the appraisal of clinical benefit and ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) scoring' has been published in ESMO Open.
- In 2020, the 'EHA evaluation of the ESMO- Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale version 1.1 (ESMO-MCBS v1.1) for hematological malignancies' article has been published in ESMO Open.
- In 2017, ESMO-MCBS v1.1 was published in Annals of Oncology.
- In 2015, the article “A standardised, generic, validated approach to stratify the magnitude of clinical benefit that can be anticipated from anti-cancer therapies: the European Society for Medical Oncology Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS)” has been published in Annals of Oncology.
Milestones
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In 2023, ESMO-MCBS:H was launched. This is the first version of the ESMO-MCBS designed specifically for haematological malignancies. It will support the shared mission of ESMO and EHA to identify novel treatments that bring a substantial clinical benefit to the patient.
ESMO-MCBS visualization, to facilitate the accessibility and understandability of ESMO-MCBS by patients, doctors, and other stakeholders.
- In 2022, ESMO-MCBS Online tutorials were published. The tutorials provide an overview of the scale and scoring methodology with detailed examples.
- In 2021, ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines include cancer medicines which have received FDA approval. Following this decision, the ESMO-MCBS Scorecards are now available with also medicines approved not only by the EMA but also by the FDA (retrospectively from January 2020).
- In 2020, ESMO-MCBS Quality of Life subgroup, in collaboration with EORTC, developed the Quality of Life Checklist, which was then published in 2022. The checklist assesses the robustness of QoL research to use for ESMO-MCBS grading and facilitates objective and transparent decision making on crediting for QoL benefits.
- In 2019, WHO Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Medicines acknowledged in the Report 22nd WHO Expert Committee on the 2019 Selection and Use of Essential Medicines the role of the ESMO-MCBS as a screening tool to identify cancer treatments that have potential therapeutic value that warrants full evaluation for EML listing.
- In 2019, ESMO-MCBS v1.1 has been enriched with newly designed forms.
- In 2018, ESMO Scorecards repository was created, providing a centralised location of cancer medicines that have been scored by ESMO using the most current version of the ESMO-MCBS.
- In 2017, ESMO-MCBS version 1.1 was launched. It incorporates 10 revisions from the previous version and allow for scoring of single-arm studies.
- In 2016, ESMO-MCBS included in the ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines where applicable.
- In 2015, ESMO-MCBS was launched. The ESMO-MCBS is a validated and reproducible tool to assess the magnitude of clinical benefit for cancer medicines; it uses a rational, structured, and consistent approach to derive a relative ranking of the magnitude of clinically meaningful benefit that can be expected from a new anti-cancer treatment.
- In 2013, the initial meeting of the task force and development of the ESMO-MCBS took place.
Additional articles
- In 2022, the editorial "The first ones now, will later be last": understanding the importance of historical context when reading ESMO-MCBS scores and the article ‘Off-label despite high-level evidence: a clinical practice review of commonly used off-patent cancer medicines’ have been published in ESMO Open.
- In 2018, ESMO and ASCO published "Comparative Assessment of Clinical Benefit Using the ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale Version 1.1 and the ASCO Value Framework Net Health Benefit Score", a Joint Assessment of their value frameworks in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
- In 2017, the article "Detailed statistical assessment of the characteristics of the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) threshold rules" was published in ESMO Open.
- In 2016, the "ESMO - Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale v1.0 questions and answers" was published in ESMO Open. Two corrections to the original article have been published. View the corrigendum on Annals of Oncology.