Every year, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) brings together experts from pharma, research and advocacy organizations, and healthcare providers (HCPs) to hear about the year’s biggest oncology breakthroughs. With the theme “Shaping the Future of Anticancer Therapies,” ESMO 2024 saw record crowds and focused on advancements across immuno-oncology, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and numerous malignancies.
EVERSANA was there with teams from across the U.S. and EU. Here are a few of the things we learned and some associated implications heading into 2025.
Artificial intelligence in oncology: AI was finally featured at a major oncology conference, with presentations including presidential symposia and conference booths establishing its place in the future of oncology. The discourse wasn’t just about cycling through tissue or aiding clinical development; it ranged from mutation prediction to tumor microenvironment (TME) analysis to how AI can aid in diagnosis and treatment planning to achieve better outcomes for patients.
Manufacturers of drugs and diagnostics have to create a plan for their products/therapies to become part of an algorithm and to have AI adopters on staff or as consultants as the space continues to broaden.
Biomarkers: The data and insights around precision oncology and personalized medicine continue to grow at an incredible pace. Earlier this year at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) Annual Meeting, many presentations and booths were dedicated to discussing biomarkers and their role in guiding individualized cancer treatment. At ESMO, we saw those discussions come to life. From the increasing use of next generation sequencing based (NGS) tests in everyday clinical settings to groundbreaking research on tumor mutations that can help identify the most effective therapies, the promise of personalized cancer treatment is rapidly becoming a reality.
Our industry is making great strides toward individualized therapies that tailor treatment plans to the unique genetic makeup of each patient’s tumor. As such, we need to ramp up education and understanding for better shared decision-making.
Checkpoint inhibitors: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) were also a major focus, with multiple studies offering new insights into their evolving role in cancer treatment. One key highlight was the continued exploration of PD-1 inhibitors such as nivolumab, particularly in combination with other therapies for advanced cancers. At one of the presidential symposia, a standout study discussed the Phase III POD1UM-303 trial, which demonstrated that adding retifanlimab to standard chemotherapy significantly improved progression-free survival for patients with unresectable, locally recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal. This could represent a potential new standard of care for this rare cancer.
Even as promising new cellular therapies emerge, the continued innovation and application of ICIs make it clear that their impact in oncology will continue.
Sequencing: Significant advances in many classes of therapies were presented at ESMO. We heard about monoclonal antibodies, bispecifics and antibody-drug conjugates, and many of these are being used in combination. One big question that came up in several of these talks was, how should we sequence these drugs?
Treatment sequencing remains one of the bigger challenges in the oncology landscape.
Understanding treatment sequencing implications and how one class of therapy may impact another form of therapy is one of the many considerations in oncology. Both manufacturers and marketers need to understand how HCPs make these decisions and which patients are likely to benefit from one type of treatment over another.
ctDNA: New data was presented demonstrating major advances in the understanding of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). One study showed how ctDNA levels in the blood before and after therapy or surgery may be a surrogate for long-term clinical benefit. Another study showed how our understanding of ctDNA as a prognostic biomarker is advancing and that ctDNA may soon be informing the staging for solid tumors.
Pharmaceutical marketers and commercialization teams need to consider how ctDNA impacts clinical decision-making. Will it revolutionize solid tumor staging?
Medical Affairs: Finally, Medical Affairs was heard loud and clear this year, and it had a larger presence on the conference floor than at promotional booths. Touch screens and VR were still present and engaging throughout the conference, but Medical Affairs footprints were bigger and offered planned meeting spaces (that were always full). And this is where the real conversations were happening – where pharma was actually asking oncologists about how trials should be conducted, soliciting their opinion and direction. These booths were where attendees were learning about pipelines, what’s happening next and what people expect to hear in Berlin in 2025.
As the next-generation oncology commercialization partner, EVERSANA understands the clinical and strategic nuances of this category. With our dedicated Oncology Center of Excellence, we provide access to a team of industry-leading experts across various commercial service lines who combine their in-depth understanding of the market with strategic insights to enable EVERSANA to consistently deliver exceptional results for life sciences companies.
Hear from members of EVERSANA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, as they expand upon trends and insights from ESMO 2024 in this pharmaphorum interview.
Author
Anne Marie is helping EVERSANA deliver value to stakeholders across the life sciences industry. Through her multi-decade career at prominent large and small pharmaceutical companies, she has become a proven biopharma leader driving cross-functional…
Barry Vucsko has more than 25 years of marketing, advertising, and consulting experience spanning more than 100 brands and several continents...
Gurdip has 8 years of medical strategy experience in pharmaceutical advertising and healthcare communications. She has led medical education initiatives via KOL engagements and has led medical strategy-focused initiatives for oncology brands. Her experience extends across HCP, direct-to-consumer/patient…
Vanitha brings more than 20 years of experience in the area of medical communications and medical strategy. She is passionate about bringing medical science and storytelling together. She has training in both biomedicine and…