What to Expect from the ASCO20 Virtual Program

Photo Courtesy: ASCO

Taking the COVID-19 pandemic into consideration, last March, the organizers of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), decided to convert their highly regarded annual meeting into a virtual format. Originally scheduled to take place in Chicago for 5 days, the conference will now transpire as an online program between May 29 – 31. Here is a brief preview of what to expect from the event.

The ASCO annual meeting is more than just a scientific congregation of physicians, researchers, and industry professionals reporting on the latest advances in cancer research. It is also an opportunity for education and patient advocacy. While a virtual program may not be an ideal replacement for the in-person meeting to achieve its full potential, the decision is the right one, considering the circumstances. Besides, it offers access to a horde of participants around the globe, who might have otherwise skipped the event. We attempted to give a glimpse of what to look forward to at the conference.

Anticipated Clinical Trial Results

In their official website, ASCO announced some of the top studies to be presented at the meeting. They include:

Plenary Session

• Merck & Co., Inc.

  Phase III Keynote-177 trial comparing pembrolizumab to standard therapy as first-line treatment for select patients with advanced colorectal cancer (LBA4)

• AstraZeneca

  Phase III study assessing the efficacy of adjuvant use of targeted agent osimertinib in patients with localized non-small-cell lung cancer and EGFR mutation after complete tumor resection and adjuvant chemotherapy (LBA5)

• Pfizer, Merck KGaA

  Phase III interim analysis examining maintenance treatment with the immunotherapy avelumab after platinum-based first-line chemotherapy in advanced bladder cancer (LBA1)

Other Sessions

• The first national-scale study on cancer mortality rates in states with and without Medicaid expansion after the adoption of the Affordable Care Act (2003)
• A phase III trial assessing survival after maintenance treatment with the PARP inhibitor olaparib in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation (6002)
• A randomized controlled trial examining the use of videoconference interventions to reduce anxiety and distress in caregivers who live far away from patients with cancer (12123)
• International study examining the survival benefit of quitting smoking, even shortly before a lung cancer diagnosis (1512)
• A prospective study on quality of life for older patients after integrating geriatric assessment and management into cancer care (A12011)
• Data from the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) examining mortality and severe illness among patients with cancer who have contracted COVID-19, and use of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine (LBA110)
• Latest global research on COVID-19 in patients with thoracic cancers examining the impact of specific cancer treatments on outcomes (LBA111)
• Phase II study looking at avelumab in patients with gestational trophoblastic tumors resistant to chemotherapy (LBA6008)
• INFORM study examining use of precision medicine for pediatric cancers with poor prognosis (LBA10503)

Select Company Presentations

• Foundation Medicine, Inc.

  FMI and collaborators to present new data supporting the use of Comprehensive Genomic Profiling (CGP) test in diagnosing advanced cancers (9511, 5011, 3517, 1050, 5534, TPS2087, 3060, 9591, 3622, 3620, 5527)

1. The use of tumor mutational burden (TMB) as a pan-tumor genomic biomarker across a variety of cancers
2. FMI and Flatiron Health’s clinico-genomic database demonstrating that the combination of TMB and PD-L1 can better predict immunotherapy response in lung cancer patients (TPS2087)

• Genentech/Roche

  Data on a novel, anti-TIGIT Cancer immunotherapy, Tiragolumab (9503)

• Cellworks

  Cellworks Singula™ Predicts Personalized Therapy Responses for Pancreatic Cancer Patients with 94% Accuracy (e16766)

• Cellworks Singula™ Predicts Personalized Therapy Responses for AML and MDS Patients with Higher Accuracy than Physician Prescribed Treatments (e19502 and e19528)

• ANZUP

  New class of targeted radioactive treatment effective for men with metastatic prostate cancer (5500)

• Imperial College London

  PROSTRAGRAM: A 15-minute scan that could unmask aggressive prostate cancer earlier (5513)

References

1. https://meetings.asco.org/am/virtual-program

Author

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