Dr Pawel Sobczuk Previews Timely Themes of ESMO Congress 2023

Pawel Sobczuk, MD, PhD, of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Poland, and European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Young Oncologists Committee member, previews the upcoming ESMO Congress 2023 in Madrid, Spain.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Transcript

What can we look forward to at ESMO 2023?

The majority of participants on social media are saying it's the biggest congress and the most interesting one. There’ll be plenty of new data presented during the congress, including results of recent phase 3 studies in different tumor types, some of them included in the presidential symposia. This will include some studies into lung cancer, gynecological cancers, or in breast cancer, so there is plenty of new data coming during this year’s ESMO. And besides that, we'll have multiple presentations from a broad spectrum, including basic science, phase 1/phase 2 trials, and retrospective data. Everyone can find something for themselves.

Are there any sessions you would like to highlight?

Besides the scientific sessions where new data will be presented, there are multiple educational sessions, including keynote lectures. Some of them are very important in the current times, such as new cancer hallmarks for 2023, or how to manage oncological care in times of crisis.

ESMO is also putting a lot of effort into sustainability of health care. We’ll have a dedicated session organized by a climate change task force that will deal with the issue of how to make oncology care more sustainable and how to implement the issues related to climate change. This is the session that shouldn't be missed by participants who will be joining us in Madrid, because this is the session that will not be livestreamed. This will only be for participants on site. There will be also sessions about the resilience of the health care professionals. These might be the most valuable for anyone, irrespective of the tumor type oncologists are dealing with.

What are some of the goals of ESMO this year?

ESMO this year will also present the first guidelines for reporting real-world evidence. This a big step forward that moves us a bit from clinical trials to real-world data that are gaining much more importance in recent years for common tumors—but these are also very important for rare cancers. This is a big step forward that shows not only new phase 3 data—that we will have plenty of during these year's ESMO—but also how real-world evidence is crucial in the current landscape of oncology science.