The ESMO Congress 2025 is a major global oncology event organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
It is taking place at Messe Berlin in Berlin, Germany, from October 17 to 21, 2025. The congress features a comprehensive scientific and educational program designed to foster exchange and debate in translational cancer science, showcasing potentially practice-changing data, and stimulating multidisciplinary discussions to improve cancer treatment options.
Enrique Grande, Medical Oncology Department Director at Quironsalud Madrid, Adjunct Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, shared highlights from ESMO 2025 on X:
“Proud to have presented the academic international study DISCUS at ESMO25.
An incredible collaboration between UK, France, and Spain – proving that academic, investigator-initiated trials can be done and can deliver practice-changing messages in metastatic urothelial cancer.”
“DISCUS opens new questions for the field:
Should we apply de-escalation after EV-P?
Is maintenance avelumab still relevant post EVP?
Is cisplatin truly superior to carboplatin?
Do our QoL tools really capture real-world patient experience?
Academic de-escalation studies like DISCUS are essential to rethink how much treatment is enough – not just in metastatic disease but also in perioperative settings. We must keep pushing for patient-centered, biomarker-driven, and toxicity-conscious oncology. Huge thanks to all investigators, patients, and research teams across who made DISCUS possible. This is academic collaboration at its best — rigorous, relevant, and inspiring. Sometimes, giving less really gives more.”
It confirmed what many of us suspected:
More platinum chemotherapy does not mean better outcomes. Giving extra cycles does not improve responses or survival — it only adds toxicity and risk of progression during treatment.
Patients receiving 3 cycles of GEMCIS or GEMCARBO before avelumab maintenance reported significantly better quality of life (p = 0.016). Sometimes, less is more.
Key messages from DISCUS:
- DISCUS defines a new standard where EV-P is not available.
- Shorter platinum-based chemo preserves QoL without compromising efficacy (so far).
- Academic de-escalation trials are feasible — and necessary — in the era of ADC + IO combinations.
The study also provides realistic expectations for avelumab maintenance:
- Median OS = 18.9 months
- 61.8% of patients reached maintenance overall
- 72% did so when chemo was limited to 3 cycles vs 56% when extended to 6 cycle.”
“Thanks very much Sumanta Pal, but a big part of the success of the presentation was because of the help of Elizabeth Plimack and Apolo Andrea. They both help me a lot in improving the flow, the content and the messages. This is the beauty of working closely with all of you. Thanks ESMO for giving me the opportunity to belong to this network.”
“Grateful to have worked side by side with one of my role models and a true global leader in urothelial cancer — Tom Powles.
His scientific vision and leadership continue to inspire how we treat and understand bladder cancer worldwide. And through Tom, I met his fantastic team — the people behind the scenes who make everything look easy. Their professionalism, precision, and kindness are the true secret behind the success of studies like DISCUS.”
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ESMO 2025 Day 1 Highlights Not to Miss
ESMO 2025 Day 2 Highlights Not to Miss
