Elena Ukolova, Medical Oncologist at Almaty Sema Hospital, Too, Associate Editor at OncoDaily, shared on LinkedIn:
“Back from ESMO with plenty of slides and reasons to feel hopeful. Here are my highlights.
Thoracic oncology
- DeLLphi-305: maintenance tarlatamab + durvalumab in extensive-stage SCLC reduced the relative risk of death by 58%. Median OS from maintenance randomisation: 21.1 vs 12.7 months. Well-deserved applause
- Krascendo 1: in KRAS G12C-mutated NSCLC, divarasib improved PFS vs sotorasib or adagrasib – 9.8 vs 5.7 months. A valuable head-to-head comparison.
- MDT-BRIDGE: after durvalumab + chemotherapy, 92.3% received surgery or chemoradiotherapy with curative intent.
Melanoma
- INTerpath-001: personalised mRNA therapy + pembrolizumab – two-year recurrence-free survival of 82.2% vs 70.0%. The future feels closer!
- NADINA: neoadjuvant ipilimumab + nivolumab maintained its benefit: three-year EFS of 72.9% vs 50.0%.
GI cancers
- NICHE-2: short-course neoadjuvant nivolumab + ipilimumab in dMMR colon cancer – 68% pathological complete responses.
- AZUR-1: dostarlimab in dMMR/MSI-H rectal cancer – sustained clinical complete response at 12 months in 68%. A chance to preserve the organ.
- NEONIPIGA: perioperative immunotherapy in localised dMMR/MSI-H gastric/GEJ cancer – four-year OS of 84.1%. Encouraging, but a small, non-randomised study.
GU cancers
- VOLGA: perioperative durvalumab + preoperative enfortumab vedotin improved EFS and OS in muscle-invasive bladder cancer in patients unable to receive cisplatin or declining it. Relative risk of death reduced by 42%.
Breast cancer
- OptiTROP-Breast01: sacituzumab tirumotecan in previously treated TNBC – median OS of 14.7 vs 9.9 months with chemotherapy (HR 0.60), with benefit confirmed at final analysis.
- SWITCH and CHARISMA: changing the ADC target alone may not be enough. We need to understand resistance better.
- BRIDGET: for CNS-only progression, adding tucatinib after local treatment while continuing HER2 therapy – one-year intracranial PFS of 62% in a small subgroup.
Gynaecological cancers
- TroFuse-005: sacituzumab tirumotecan after platinum and immunotherapy in endometrial cancer improved PFS and OS. Relative risk of death reduced by 32%, but more severe side effects.
- KEYNOTE-C93: first-line pembrolizumab in dMMR endometrial cancer improved PFS and quality of life, with less toxicity than chemotherapy. No comparison with chemo-immunotherapy.
A special mention for Ilaria Colombo excellent talk on BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer after PARP inhibitors: a clear review of a difficult situation and new options, including ADCs.
Encouraging progress, with much still to bring into practice.”
You can also read: 25 Posts Not to Miss from ESMO Congress 2026: Day 5
