The progress of cancer research but also the emerging role of artificial intelligence and the growing economic burden on health services. There are many topics at the center of the 2023 edition of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) congress which opens tomorrow in Chicago, the most important global appointment in the sector with over 42,000 oncologists and specialists from all over the world. Without forgetting the rarest neoplasms and the increasingly central role of patients, so much so that the title of the congress is ‘Collaborating with patients: the cornerstone of cancer treatment’.
And also this year, the weight of Italian research does not go unnoticed: in fact, around ten young Italian researchers under 40, some of whom are currently abroad for international collaborations, will be awarded the Merit Award and will present their studies at the congress.
With over 5500 studies presented and a thousand journalists present, the message launched by the experts at the Asco congress is that in addition to drugs and new diagnostic techniques, today it is no longer possible not to give due weight to other aspects that contribute to the success of treatments, starting from the inclusion of patients in experimental clinical studies, communication, the problems of ‘rare’ cancer patients and the so-called financial toxicity, i.e. the economic burden of treatments. In this regard, for example, a study by the University of Texas showed how the extension of the US health program for the less well-off, Medicaid, has led to a reduction in mortality and an increase in access to chemotherapy. A figure that can also be extended to other realities, not just the US, and which highlights the centrality of the financial question as a determinant of health.
But the spotlights are primarily focused on new treatments, hope for millions of patients. And there are many new studies presented at Asco. Important, says Giuseppe Curigliano, director of the Division of New Drugs for Innovative Therapies of the European Institute of Oncology and member of the board of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (Aiom), is that “ample space is also given to studies concerning rare tumours, such as neurological ones, for which the therapeutic options are still limited and the presentation of new effective molecules is a great hope for many patients.Furthermore, precision medicine is increasingly central with targeted therapies for big killer tumors such as lung and at the breast”. In the plenary session, he explains, “for example, a very important study will be presented, Indigo, which evaluates a promising new oral molecule in patients affected by gliomas with particular mutations. It is a type of brain tumor for which there are no approved targeted therapies today.”