American Society of Medical Oncology meeting, 2015.

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What's Hot at ASCO 2015?

Zosia Chustecka May 21, 2015


So here we are again ― it's late May, and once again we are caught up in the buildup to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting

Chicago is hosting the meeting for the sixth year in a row, and more than 25,000 oncology professionals from around the world are expected to descend in the city for what ASCO president Peter Paul Yu, MD, describes as "the premier scientific meeting for clinical and translational oncology."

This year's theme is Innovation and Illumination ― Transforming Data Into Learning.

This is key, Dr Yu told journalists in a premeeting presscast. Noting the progress that has already been achieved with decades of clinical data, resulting in hard-won knowledge that can improve the treatment and care of our patients, he said, "The key to even greater, more rapid progress lies within these data and our ability to transform it into knowledge."

"By sharing data, we can accelerate learning and make faster strides against cancer," he said.

The annual meeting is a great place to exchanging ideas and learning, but it takes place just once a year. "Just imagine if this wealth of data could be transformed into learning in real time throughout the year," Dr Yu said. "This is where we are heading in oncology...."

Many Abstracts Already Released

The media buildup to the meeting is already intense. Most of the 5000 abstracts to be presented at the meeting have already been released online, and there has been an avalanche of press releases and notes from investors eyeing up new therapies in pharmaceutical R&D pipelines.

However, key abstracts from plenary and other sessions will not be released until the meeting is under way. The meeting takes place from May 29 to June 2.

There continues to be a buzz about immunotherapy, and particularly the programmed death (PD) inhibitors, such as nivolumab (Opvido, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda, Merck & Co, Inc). Both these drugs have already been launched, but there are similar drugs coming through the pipeline, including MPDL3280A (Genentech/Roche), MEDI4736 and MED10680 (Medimmune Inc), avelumab (Merck Serono), pidilizumab (CureTech), and others.

Although the first evidence of clinical benefit of these agents was seen in melanoma, many other tumor types have now been shown to also respond to this immunotherapy approach. Among the data that will be released on Friday, May 29, are results from early clinical trials in advanced liver disease with nivolumab (abstract LBA100) and in head and neck cancer with pembrolizumab (abstract LBA6008).

In addition, details from a phase 3 trial of nivolumab in non–small cell lung cancer (abstract LBA109) will be released on May 29. There will be a lot of interest in these clinical data, because they have already had a huge impact. The manufacturer released the topline result in January 2015, announcing that the immunotherapy produced a significant improvement in overall survival when it was compared with chemotherapy as a second-line therapy, and these results led to the FDA approval of the first immunotherapy for lung cancer in March 2015 (3 months ahead of schedule).

The approval was warmly welcomed by lung cancer experts ― David Carbone, MD, PhD, director of the James Thoracic Center at the Ohio State University, in Columbus, said, "Immunotherapy is a quantum leap for lung cancer treatments," and Julie Brahmer, MD, thoracic cancer director at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, Maryland, said, "Immunotherapy is transforming the lung cancer treatment paradigm, providing the most promising option yet in the second-line treatment for squamous cell lung cancer patients."