In 2025, OncoDaily IO focused on the areas with the highest clinical impact: FDA immunotherapy approvals, practice-shaping clinical trials, 10 essential posts not to miss, and clear, mechanism-based educational content for residents. Rather than covering everything, our editorial priority was to highlight what genuinely changes clinical decision-making—and what trainees must understand to follow why the field is moving, not just where.
OncoDaily IO
10 Posts Not to Miss from ESMO
FDA approvals that defined the year
Among many regulatory milestones, several FDA decisions stood out for their ability to redefine standards of care rather than incrementally expand labels:
- Perioperative immunotherapy emerged as a defining theme, with approvals integrating PD-1/PD-L1 blockade into resectable gastric/GEJ cancer, muscle-invasive bladder cancer, and locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, signaling a shift toward immune intervention in curative-intent settings.
- Next-generation immune platforms matured clinically, with CAR T-cell therapy expanding into indolent B-cell lymphomas and bispecific antibodies becoming a realistic management strategy across lymphomas and multiple myeloma.
- In thoracic oncology, DLL3-targeted bispecific therapy in relapsed extensive-stage small cell lung cancer represented one of the most meaningful advances in years for a historically refractory disease.
- Operational innovation also mattered: subcutaneous pembrolizumab demonstrated that progress is not only about efficacy, but also about how immunotherapy is delivered in real-world practice.
Together, these approvals reinforced a central message of 2025: immunotherapy is no longer confined to metastatic rescue—it is increasingly embedded early, strategically, and with curative ambition.
OncoDaily IO
FDA Immunotherapy Approvals in the Second Half of 2025
Ongoing trials shaping what comes next
Beyond approvals, OncoDaily IO prioritized trials that reveal direction, not just positive hazard ratios.
- Prostate cancer emerged as a living laboratory for immunotherapy innovation, with trials exploring CAR-T cells, bispecific antibodies, IL-15–based immune activation, vaccines, NK-cell therapies, radiation-immunotherapy synergy, and perioperative immune priming—moving far beyond PD-1 monotherapy.
- In lung cancer, studies continue to refine sequencing, maintenance strategies, and radiation-IO combinations to extend systemic immune control.
- Breast, colorectal, and head & neck cancers saw growing emphasis on biomarker-defined populations, perioperative immunotherapy, and dual-checkpoint or combination strategies designed to overcome immune resistance rather than bypass it.
The unifying theme across diseases is clear: modern trials are no longer asking whether immunotherapy works, but how to design it intelligently for each tumor biology.
OncoDaily IO
10 Ongoing Clinical Trials on Immunotherapy in Prostate Cancer
Education for residents
A core pillar of OncoDaily IO in 2025 was resident-focused education. Our content emphasized mechanistic clarity—why immunotherapy behaves differently from chemotherapy, how resistance develops, and how combinations with radiation, surgery, or targeted agents reshape immune biology.
Topics such as the abscopal effect, immune priming, checkpoint resistance, and treatment sequencing were framed as conceptual tools residents can carry forward, helping them interpret future trials rather than simply remember current ones.
OncoDaily IO
Radiotherapy’s Abscopal Effect: Mechanisms, Challenges, and Key Principles for Residents
A growing scientific community
Finally, 2025 marked a transition for OncoDaily IO itself. With the formation of an expanding Editorial Board, the platform is evolving into a more structured, expert-driven scientific community—bringing together clinicians, researchers, and educators committed to rigorous, unbiased immuno-oncology education.
The takeaway
The story of 2025 is not one of volume, but of focus. Immunotherapy moved earlier, platforms became more sophisticated, and education shifted toward explaining mechanisms and strategy. OncoDaily IO’s mission this year was to capture that signal clearly—and to prepare clinicians and trainees for where oncology is heading next.
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