Innovation with Purpose: Patients and the Cancer Community at the Heart of ASCO 2025

Cancer research is facing unprecedented and turbulent times. At the American Society of Clinical Oncologists’ (ASCO) 2025 Annual Meeting, its President, Robin Zon, and CEO, Dr. Clifford Hudis, highlighted the importance of doubling down on strategic technology investment, patient advocacy, and strengthening the global cancer care community.  

Pharma marketing and medical teams face a critical task: staying ahead of evolving cancer care by deeply understanding the shifts in treatment, patient experience, and care delivery. As novel therapies expand across tumor types and stages, and care increasingly moves outside academic centers, marketers must grasp the growing complexities of toxicity management, multidisciplinary coordination, and patient empowerment across all age groups.

In the following themes, we highlight important gaps and emerging trends from ASCO and the opportunities for marketers to add value, build trust, and support better patient outcomes across the cancer care continuum.

1. Now more than ever, investment in novel technologies must remain strong

Despite recent cuts to basic research, past scientific investments are paying off

Several new studies (like ATOMIC, MATTERHORN, NIVOPOSTOP, and BREAKWATER) show that immunotherapy and other new treatments can be used earlier in cancer care and not just for advanced stages. Some could even change the standard of care, such as AMPLITUDE for early prostate cancer and DB09 for HER2+ breast cancer. Many new treatment plans build on existing ones by combining antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other advanced medicines. While these aren't entirely new drug types, ensuring they work well together and remain safe for patients is important. The key takeaway is that supporting academic research and the NIH is critical to advancing cancer treatment.

Biomarker-driven evolution and personalization

Genomics and real-time monitoring are helping doctors adjust cancer treatments more precisely. One of the most talked-about tools is ctDNA-based MRD, which can guide treatment eligibility, response tracking, and recurrence monitoring (as seen in studies like SERENA-6 and AEGEAN). In other research, PD-L1 expression (CPS ≥10) in ASCENT-04/KEYNOTE-D19 enriches response to immunotherapy-ADC combinations.

Meanwhile, interest is rising in protein-based markers (e.g., DLL3, MAdCAM-1) as cost-effective, non-genomic options. Companion diagnostics are also evolving, expanding into ctRNA fusions and methylation panels, which may reshape lab needs and reimbursement strategies. 

ASCO – Google AI partnership for enhanced patient care 

The ASCO Guidelines Assistant was unveiled during the opening session. This AI-powered tool is designed to streamline oncologists’ access to evidence-based clinical guidelines using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform and Gemini models. Offering a dynamic, chat-based interface, this new tool allows all clinicians, not just oncology specialists, to digest ASCO’s comprehensive library of clinical practice guidelines quickly. This platform is expected to enhance clinical decision-making, improve accuracy and trustworthiness, and better support community and rural practices. Google’s Ruth Porat urged the audience to try this new tool to build familiarity and create better prompts to unleash its power. 

2. “Our patients’ time is precious” – Dr. Lewis (during the Plenary Session) 

Many sessions and posters focused on the patient experience, bringing their voices to life across a range of cancer types, from early-onset to late-stage disease and palliative care. A standout moment was seeing a dedicated section for patient-advocacy organizations placed at the front entrance of the exhibit hall, a clear sign of ASCO’s commitment to raising visibility of these important groups. A recurring theme echoed by many presenters was a reminder of the core purpose behind all this work: “Our patients are the main reason.”

One of the most powerful moments came from Ricki Fairley, CEO of Touch, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance. She delivered a moving and eye-opening talk emphasizing the importance of educating underserved populations, better representation in clinical trials, and why biomarkers matter for shared clinical decision-making. Her message, and those from many other sessions, reinforced the idea that better patient outcomes only happen when patients are truly seen, heard, and empowered. This perspective is also key to improving adherence, reducing treatment drop-off, and helping patients and their care partners feel confident in making informed choices. Ultimately, this supports efforts to reduce time toxicity—a concept I explored further with my colleague Dane Lund in our article.

3. There’s no better time to lean in, keep building, and empower a collaborative cancer care community 

In addition to maintaining strong collaboration among academia, hospitals, and pharma, the cancer community urgently needs to improve education around toxicity management and strengthen multidisciplinary care, especially when it comes to symptom management and QoL innovations for patients of all ages, from children to older adults. Several presentations spotlighted a critical evolution in cancer care: as novel therapies become standard across tumor types and stages, adverse events related to these classes (e.g., checkpoint inhibitors, ADCs, CAR-T cell therapies, and bispecifics) are rising in frequency and complexity. Most of this care is delivered outside academic centers, revealing a growing need to equip the entire oncology ecosystem, especially community practices, with the tools, support, and infrastructure to manage these toxicities. 

Better tools are also needed to support the multidisciplinary coordination of care. Presentations pointed out how gaps in our fragmented healthcare system affect patients and their experience. Improving how care is transitioned across settings and managing immune-related, ADC-related, or CAR-T-related side effects are essential steps toward creating a more efficient and forward-thinking cancer care environment.

With a strong focus on technology innovation, patient centricity and advocacy, and collaborative contributions to the cancer care community, the 2025 ASCO Annual Meeting underscored the urgent need to translate scientific progress into real-world impact. For pharma marketers, there are actionable opportunities to support evolving care models, enable informed decision-making, and align with what truly matters—patients. 

Connect with our experts to explore how these themes can shape your strategic approach to oncology.