Noha Rashad, Lecturer of Medical Oncology at Suez university and CAIRO Journal club board member and co-founder, shared on LinkedIn:
“Happening now… ESMO Congress 2026 Opening Session
ESMO Award – Early detection meets oncology: Lessons from the oesophagus – Rebecca Fitzgerald (UK).
Prof. Fitzgerald was honoured for her exceptional work on the early detection of oesophageal and gastro-oesophageal cancers. In her lecture after receiving the ESMO Award, she discussed how identifying patients with squamous dysplasia and Barrett’s oesophagus within the ‘window of opportunity’ can improve outcomes.
Detecting these tumours at the pre-cancerous or early stage ‘shifts diagnosis to the left,’ increasing each patient’s chance of cure. It allows clinicians to intervene at a stage where treatment is less aggressive and cure rates are higher.
She closed by highlighting that funding research into early detection is one of the most effective ways to fight cancer.”
Then Dr. Rashad also shared:
“Targeting CLAUDIN 18.2 in gastric cancer became a reality…How to target it is an area or rapid progress.. Moving from zolbetuximab, a monoclonal antibody to antibody drug cojugate (ADC).
Prof. Kohei Shitara (Kashiwa, Japan) Presented the results of ‘Arcotatug tavatecan (IBI343/TAK-921) versus treatment of physician’s choice (TPC) in previously treated, advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (G/GEJA): First interim analysis of the randomized, open-label, phase 3, G-HOPE-001 study.’
Compared to chemotherapy of physicians’s choice, Arcotatug tavatecan demonstrated a statistica ly significant and clinica ly meaningful improvement in PFS.
GIII toxicity of GIII was reported in Grade ≥3 (G3+) TEAEs occurred in 45.8% pts with arcotatug tavatecan vs 57.9% pts with TPC. Waiting for the CLARITY GASTRIC 01 study to further understand the benefit of ADCs targeting CLAUDIN 18.2 in GC/GEJ.”
And recently Dr. Rashad added:
“SANO trial..non-inferiority confirmed, with doubling in rate of distant metastases.
Active surveillance versus standard surgery after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for oesophageal cancer: Long-term results of a cluster-randomised controlled trial (SANO). Sanjiv Gangaram-Panday (Rotterdam, Netherlands) LBA78 54% Of patients with esophageal cancer avoided surgery who acheived clinical compplete remission after CCRTH, no difference in 5 year OS.”
See gallery below.
You can also read: 10 Gastroesophageal Cancer Trials to Watch at ESMO 2026.
