Practice-Changing Data, Innovative Approaches to Cancer Care at ESMO 2024

Across 5 days, the ESMO Congress 2024 will present practice-changing trial data, encouraging early-stage trial data, innovative approaches to cancer care and research, and more. The meeting will be held both virtually and in person September 13-17 in Barcelona, Spain.

The 5-day ESMO Congress 2024 will provide the latest data and information in cancer care.

Image credit: ESMO

In total, the Congress will offer 86 late-breaking abstracts, presented throughout 3 Presidential Symposiums and additional Proffered Paper and Mini Oral sessions. The Presidential Symposiums are broken into 2 presenting practice-changing trials and 1 being called “Eyes to the Future.”

Among the data being presented that has the potential to change practice are:

• Phase 3 results of EORTC-GUCG 1333/PEACE-3 of enzalutamide in patients with prostate cancer
• Phase 3 results of POD1UM-303/InterAACT 2 on the use of retifanlimab with carboplatin-paclitaxel in patients with anal cancer
• Phase 3 results from LEAP-012 of transarterial chemoembolization with or without lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab for liver cancer
• Phase 3 results from EGOT-cx11/GOG-3047/KEYNOTE-A18 of pembrolizumab plus chemoradiotherapy in cervical cancer

The Congress will also feature sessions related to counseling, such as one on oncofertility taking place on the first day of the meeting, which will highlight the risk of toxicities with newer anticancer treatments, fertility preservation in both male and female patients, and how to address sexual health in patients with cancer. In addition, 2 studies will address the safety of breastfeeding after breast cancer.

Multiple sessions on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) will help advance the research in these therapies. There are sessions dedicated to ADCs in breast cancer and lung cancer. In addition, a session will discuss the use of ADCs in advanced disease.

The meeting will also review the latest information about young-onset cancers. On Saturday, a session will delve into colorectal cancer, specifically. Another session on Monday, the last full day of the meeting, will review what is contributing to the global epidemic of young-onset cancer: nature or nurture?

Patient advocacy sessions will look at topics such as access challenges for new oncology medicines, psychological burdens of treatment, managing side effects of immunotherapies, and patient involvement in trial design for immunotherapy.

A track from the European Oncology Nursing Society will include presentations on symptom management, advance planning and palliative care, prevention and screening, quality improvement, survivorship, and digital innovations.

Other sessions will touch upon technology in cancer care as well. On day 2, one session will evaluate how technology is helping with gynecological cancer care, such as digitizing the patient journey and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. On Sunday, another session will spotlight AI, looking at its applications precision oncology and how to implement AI at scale in oncology.

The latter session will be presented by Amy Abernethy, MD, who spent 2 years with the FDA and nearly 3 years with Verily, the precision health company of Alphabet Inc, which owns Google. Abernethy has since cofounded Highlander Health1 with Brad Hirsch, MD, who worked with Abernethy at Verily. The company was announced just days before the start of the ESMO Congress and is dedicated to improving clinical research by making records collected in hospitals available for use in real-time.2

As it does every year, the Congress will round out with 2 Scientific Congress Highlights sessions, reviewing the discussions and data in topics such as breast cancer, policy and preventive strategies, investigational immunotherapies, head and neck cancer, hematological malignancies, and non–small cell lung cancer.

References

1. Highlander Health launches to modernize clinical research and patient care. Highlander Health. News release. September 10, 2024. Accessed September 11, 2024. https://www.highlanderhealth.com/resource/highlander-health-launches-to-modernize-clinical-research-and-patient-care/

2. Herper M. Former Verily executives hatch plan to invest millions in high-tech medical data. STAT. September 10, 2024. Accessed September 11, 2024. https://www.statnews.com/2024/09/10/former-verily-executives-highlander-investment-medical-data/