WHATS HOT AT ESMO 2010

September 28, 2010 — The upcoming annual meeting of the European Society of Oncology (ESMO) is not only slated to be the largest yet, it will also be taking a slightly different direction, featuring more late-breaking news from large clinical trials than in previous years.

At last count, more than 14,000 people will be attending this year's conference, according to Rolf Stahel, MD, chair of the ESMO 2010 Scientific Committee. "I also think it will be the most exciting in spirit," he told Medscape Medical News in an interview.

He explained that, in the past, ESMO has offered a wide range of excellent educational sessions. "That is very much appreciated by practicing oncologists, and we are continuing to offer them," Dr. Stahel said. "But this year, we are expanding our scientific sessions, and we will be presenting a large number of results from phase 3 trials."

"This year we've made a lot of progress, compared with previous meetings," he added. "There are very promising results that will be presented."

Dr. Stahel feels that the increased emphasis on scientific papers is what is driving the increase in attendance. ESMO has been building up to this, he explained. It began at the meeting 2 years ago, in Stockholm, Sweden, when an increased number of scientific papers were presented. "We had more education and more exciting research topics," he said. "People have begun to realize this, and are now willing to present their best work at ESMO."

At this year's meeting, being held in Milan, Italy, October 8 to 12, "there are 27 late-breaking abstracts, which is 3 times the number presented at the last meeting," he said.

Late-Breaking News at the Presidential Symposium

The late-breaking news will be featured at the Presidential Symposium.

There has been quite a bit of excitement already about one of the presentations (LBA5), featuring the investigational drug abiraterone, after the manufacturer (Ortho Biotech) unblinded the phase 3 trial COU-AA-301 trial. The randomized study was investigating abiraterone acetate plus prednisone for the treatment of patients with metastatic advanced prostate cancer, and an Independent Data Monitoring Committee not only recommended that the study be unblinded, but that patients in the placebo group be offered treatment with abiraterone acetate.

Another late-breaker will feature results from the Gynecologic Cancer InterGroup's phase 3 trial of concurrent bevacizumab and chemotherapy in women with ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer (LBA4).

In another, researchers will present the final survival results from a phase 3 study that compares gefitinib and carboplatin/paclitaxel in Asian patients with advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer (LBA2).

The preliminary results from a phase 2 trial will be presented for trastuzumab-DM1 in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (LBA3). This is an investigational product that combines the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab with the naturally occurring antitumor antibiotic maytansine (ImmunoGen).

Conference Highlights

Other highlights from the conference program are:

* New findings from major phase 3 trials, potentially practice changing
* Promising new drugs to treat ovarian, skin, colorectal, and other cancers
* New hormonal agents in advanced prostate cancer
* Personalized medicine: Do ethnic differences matter?
* Progress in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer
* Prevention and management of toxicity in targeted therapies
* How proteomic profiling can guide therapy selection
* The importance of conducting well-designed clinical trials
* Combining chemotherapy and radiotherapy in small-cell lung cancer
* New developments in targeted therapies for lung cancer
* MicroRNAs: The new genes involved in cancer
* European disparities in cancer control

In addition, there will be Multidisciplinary Interactive Sessions, in which experts present treatment options from the perspective of different disciplines within a multidisciplinary team.

"This is the first time that we are offering an interactive format," said Dr. Stahel. "These sessions will be for doctors who wish to delve into certain areas in depth, so we are offering an interactive format for smaller groups."

8th ESMO Patient Seminar

ESMO will once again feature programs specifically geared toward cancer patients. One seminar is focused on new methods of treating cancer, emphasizing the emerging field of targeted therapy. Another one of the seminars provides information for European cancer patients, such as how advocacy groups can assist them and the conditions of cancer treatment in Europe.