ESMO 2023 Preview
An Expert’s Guide to ESMO 2023: A Preview of the Top Abstracts

Released: October 19, 2023

Natasha Leighl
Natasha Leighl, MD, MMSc, FRCPC, FASCO
Evan J. Lipson
Evan J. Lipson, MD
John Marshall
John Marshall, MD
Joyce O'Shaughnessy
Joyce O'Shaughnessy, MD
Daniel P. Petrylak
Daniel P. Petrylak, MD

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During the 2023 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, exciting and important results from many clinical trials will be reported. In this commentary, oncology experts highlight the abstracts they are most looking forward to seeing presented at the meeting. We will cover these abstracts in more detail as part of Clinical Care Options’ (CCO) Independent Conference Coverage of ESMO 2023. As the meeting unfolds, remember to check the CCO website for downloadable slidesets, including the data from these highlighted studies. After the conference, review the CME-certified expert analysis text module with perspectives and clinical implications of these new data.

Top Picks: Breast Cancer
In breast cancer, Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, identified several studies with the potential to change practice including the following.

  • TROPION-Breast01: Efficacy of datopotamab deruxtecan vs chemotherapy in patients with inoperable or metastatic hormone receptor (HR)-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer who progressed on previous therapy (Abstract LBA11).
  • monarchE: A preplanned interim analysis of overall survival at 5 years with adjuvant abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy for the treatment of patients with HR-positive/HER2-negative, high-risk early breast cancer (Abstract LBA17), and an exploratory analysis of the prognostic and predictive value of Ki-67, estrogen and progesterone receptor expression (Abstract 240MO).
  • Pooled analysis of DESTINY-Breast-01, -02, and -03A: Efficacy outcomes in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and brain metastases treated with trastuzumab deruxtecan (Abstract 377O).
  • EMBER: Phase Ia/b trial of imlunestrant with or without everolimus or alpelisib, in endocrine receptor (ER)–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer (Abstract 383MO)

Additional Abstracts of Interest in Breast Cancer

  • CheckMate 7FL: A randomized, double-blind phase III trial of neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus nivolumab or placebo followed by adjuvant endocrine therapy with or without nivolumab in patients with high-risk, ER-positive/HER2-negative primary breast cancer (Abstract LBA20).
  • KEYNOTE-756: A phase III study of patients with early-stage, high-risk ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer treated with pembrolizumab or placebo added to neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab or placebo added to endocrine therapy (Abstract LBA21).
  • Updated efficacy results from KEYNOTE-522: A phase III study of patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer treated with pembrolizumab or placebo added to neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab or placebo (Abstract LBA18).
  • NATALEE: A prespecified exploratory analysis of invasive disease-free survival with ribociclib plus nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor vs nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor alone among subgroups of patients with early HR-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer from the phase III study (Abstract LBA23).

Top Picks: Gastrointestinal Cancer
Abstracts of interest selected by John Marshall, MD, for patients with gastrointestinal malignancies are:

  • MATTERHORN: A global, phase III study reporting interim results on pathologic complete response with perioperative durvalumab plus 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel for the treatment of resectable gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers (Abstract LBA73).
  • NICHE-3: Neoadjuvant nivolumab plus the LAG-3−targeted antibody, relatlimab, as treatment for locally advanced mismatch repair-deficient colon cancers (Abstract LBA31).
  • Alliance A021602/CABINET: Efficacy of cabozantinib vs placebo for advanced extra-pancreatic or pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors after previous therapy from the phase III trial (Abstract LBA53).

Additional Abstracts of Interest in Gastrointestinal Cancer

  • KEYNOTE-811: Interim survival data from the phase III study of pembrolizumab plus trastuzumab and chemotherapy vs placebo plus trastuzumab and chemotherapy for HER2-positive metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (Abstract 1511O).
  • The ACCENT/IDEA pooled analysis of 7 trials to assess the prognostic value of KRAS and BRAF mutations in stage III colon cancer that is microsatellite stable or unstable (Abstract 553O).
  • Phase II PEGASUS trial: Management of stage III and high-risk stage II colon cancer using liquid biopsy-guided therapy after surgical resection (Abstract LBA28).

Top Picks: Genitourinary Cancer
Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, awaits presentation of the following potentially practice-changing abstracts.

  • EV-302/KEYNOTE-A39: Efficacy data from the phase III trial evaluating enfortumab vedotin plus pembrolizumab vs standard of care chemotherapy for patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (Abstract LBA6).
  • CheckMate901: A phase III trial studying nivolumab plus gemcitabine/cisplatin vs gemcitabine/cisplatin alone for treatment-naive patients with unresectable or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (Abstract LBA7).
  • Double Antibody Drug conjugate (DAD): A phase I trial of sacituzumab govitecan in combination with enfortumab vedotin for treatment of patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma who experienced progression on or after platinum chemotherapy and immunotherapy or who were cisplatin ineligible and received one line of therapy (Abstract 2360O).

Top Picks: Lung and Thyroid Cancer
Natasha Leighl, MD, MMsc, FRCPC, FASCO, identified several key abstracts on lung and thyroid cancer that she is looking forward to at the meeting.

  • CheckMate 77T: Efficacy data from the phase III study comparing addition of nivolumab or placebo to neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by adjuvant nivolumab or placebo for previously untreated, resectable stage II-IIIB non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Abstract LBA1).
  • LIBRETTO-531: Efficacy and safety of selpercatinib vs cabozantinib or vandetanib for the treatment of advanced, kinase inhibitor–naive, RET-mutated medullary thyroid cancer (Abstract LBA3).
  • LIBRETTO-431: A randomized phase III study of the efficacy and safety of selpercatinib vs chemotherapy with or without pembrolizumab as first-line therapy for RET fusion–positive NSCLC (Abstract LBA4).
  • TROPION-Lung01: A randomized phase III study of the TROP-2 antibody–drug conjugate datopotamab deruxtecan vs docetaxel in previously treated advanced or metastatic NSCLC (Abstract LBA12).
  • Preliminary results from TROPiCS-03: A phase II basket trial of sacituzumab govitecan as second-line treatment for extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (Abstract 1990MO).
  • HERTHENA-Lung01: Intracranial efficacy outcomes from a phase II trial of the HER3 antibody–drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan for patients with previously treated advanced EGFR-mutated NSCLC (Abstract 1319MO).
  • DESTINY-PanTumor01: Primary results of the phase II study of trastuzumab deruxtecan for the treatment of solid tumors with HER2-activating mutations (Abstract 654O).
  • ALINA: Efficacy and safety in the phase III trial of adjuvant alectinib vs chemotherapy for patients with completely resected, early-stage ALK-positive NSCLC (Abstract LBA2).

Additional Abstracts of Interest in Lung Cancer

  • Overall survival results from KEYNOTE-671: A phase II trial examining the impact of the addition of pembrolizumab vs placebo to perioperative cisplatin-based chemotherapy on early-stage NSCLC (Abstract LBA56).

Top Picks: Skin Cancer
The following abstracts reporting clinical data in skin cancer were noted as highly anticipated by Evan J. Lipson, MD:

  • Biomarker analysis from the phase III RELATIVITY-047 trial of relatlimab plus nivolumab vs nivolumab alone in advanced melanoma (Abstract LBA51).
  • One-year follow-up from a phase II study of neoadjuvant cemiplimab in patients with stage II-IV (M0) cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (Abstract 1088MO)

Additional Abstracts of Interest in Skin Cancer

  • Efficacy of darovasertib plus crizotinib and reduction in ctDNA in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma (Abstract 1081O).

Remember to Check the CCO Website Often During and After ESMO!
Downloadable slideset summaries of these key studies will be available on the CCO website as the data are released. After ESMO, comprehensive analyses by our expert faculty will explore the clinical implications of the data in a CME-certified, text-based module.

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Which of the following clinical trials are you most looking forward to seeing presented at the 2023 ESMO Congress?

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