Oncology News Central Peer-Spectives

The prospective randomized NHS-Galleri multicancer early detection trial didn’t meet its primary endpoint, but it did uncover a lot more early-stage cancers than predicted. Eric Klein, MD, and Robert Figlin, MD, talk about what the data reveal about cancer biology and for screening programs.

Data presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting add to the “ever-shifting and chaotic space” that is CLL care, says Matthew Lunning, DO. He discusses how new findings are affecting practice with Robert A. Figlin, MD.

New treatments for patients with microsatellite instability–high colorectal cancer are drastically changing outcomes. Nicholas James Hornstein, MD, PhD, discusses recent advances and key findings from the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting with Carolina Bernabe Ramirez, MD

In the wake of recent key data about ESR1-mutated metastatic breast cancer, treatment decisions have become more complicated. “In current clinical practice, this is not a straightforward decision,” Marla Lipsyc-Sharf, MD, explains to Robert A. Figlin, MD.  

“In breast cancer now, all of our treatment for hormone receptor–positive metastatic disease is a bit of a moving target because of new therapies that are available,” explains Hope S. Rugo, MD, division chief of breast medical oncology and the Women’s Cancers Program director at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California. She discusses the “ever-changing” landscape involvin...

As the management of patients with ESR1-mutated metastatic breast cancer evolves, various questions have emerged in clinical practice. “It's a complex situation,” explains Hope S. Rugo, MD, division chief of breast medical oncology and the Women's Cancers Program director at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California. She discusses how recent advances have changed treatment...

How are oncologists currently approaching the care of patients with ESR1-mutated advanced breast cancer in practice?  Erin Frances Cobain, MD , associate professor at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, speaks with  Wassim Mchayleh, MD, MBA , the clinical program director of the breast cancer program at AdventHealth Cancer Institute and associate professor of medicine at t...

Combination regimens improve survival in advanced EGFR-mutated NSCLC, but they also increase toxicity. Jorge Nieva, MD, shares how he talks with patients about potential adverse events. He describes the options available for prophylaxis and how he treats the toxicities that do arise.

Tackling central nervous system (CNS) disease in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer “is a huge problem, both from a quality-of-life perspective for patients and also from a longevity perspective,” explains Sid Devarakonda, MD , director of thoracic medical oncology at Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle and clinical associate professor at Washington State University. He speaks with Aakash Des...

With multiple regimens available for advanced EGFRm NSCLC, selecting the best regimen for an individual patient is key. Jorge Nieva, MD, tells host Aakash Desai, MD, MPH, that the question shouldn’t be about who needs more efficacy, but rather understanding a patient’s personality and goals.

Progress in cancer care means that millions of patients are living longer lives, albeit without hope of a cure. What role can oncologists and other physicians play in helping to navigate these uncertain futures? “What is our obligation to them? How do we understand them and their needs and respond to them?” asks Sunita Puri, MD , author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour an...

A recent study found a link between mRNA vaccination and improved cancer immunotherapy response. The preclinical data demonstrated impressive results, leading to big questions. “We believe that [vaccination] actually does generate and even converts the cold tumors to hot tumors,” Steven H. Lin, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist and radiation oncologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Ce...

Survival data from the KEYNOTE-905 trial and insights into the use of circulating tumor DNA to guide treatment decisions from IMvigor011 made big waves in bladder cancer care at the European Society of Medical Oncology Annual Congress. “Overall, this is going to change the standard of care for muscle-invasive bladder cancer,” says Amanda Nizam, MD, a genitourinary medical oncologist at the Clevela...

Options for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are rapidly expanding, says Amir Fathi, MD, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston and program director of the Center for Leukemia at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Over the course of the last 10 to 12 years, there have been a series of approvals, predominantly for targeted therapies,” he explains. Speaking wi...

The artificial sweetener sucralose may impair the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy, according to a recent study published in Science. Although further research is needed before these findings can be translated into actionable information for patients, the investigation highlights that “the science of nutrition in cancer is actually quite poor,” says senior author Diwakar Davar, MD, associate profe...

New survival data from the FLAURA2 and MARIPOSA trials represent “a massive advance for our patients” in terms of frontline treatment for EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer says Sandip P. Patel, MD, professor of medicine at the University of California San Diego. However, the findings have led to new questions about sequencing. “Just like in chess, when you make a move, you’re restricted in t...

The development of oral selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) represents substantial progress for patients with metastatic breast cancer who have ESR1 mutations. “I’m extremely excited because they’re the most effective form of endocrine therapy today,” says Wassim Mchayleh, MD, MBA, the clinical program director of the breast cancer program at AdventHealth Cancer Institute and associate p...

From a “game-changer” in triple-negative disease to broader paradigm shifts and practice changes, the  2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting  was pivotal for breast cancer care, says  Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH , chief of the Division of Breast Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Tolaney broke down some of the top data at ASCO...

Results from the phase 3  ATOMIC trial  are practice changing for colorectal cancer care and raise broader questions about immunotherapy use in patients with mismatch repair deficiencies across tumor types.  Frank A. Sinicrope, MD , a professor of oncology and medicine at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota, presented the findings at the  2025 American Society of Cl...

“An increasingly unrealistic set of performance expectations” is putting a strain on oncologist faculty members, says Clifford Hudis, MD, CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). He discussed the mounting challenges for academic cancer physicians and how ASCO is working to address them with Robert A. Figlin, MD, the interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles and Steven...

“For the first 15 years of my career, we had nothing new” in bladder cancer care, said  Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD , chief of the genitourinary oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Now, “the pace of change has been dizzying,” he told  Robert A. Figlin, MD , the interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles and Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematol...

Findings from the  SERENA-6 trial , which examined switching therapies in patients with breast cancer ahead of disease progression, made headlines during the  2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting . However, big questions remain. “I don’t know for sure if the approach is practice changing yet. I think the approach is practice confounding,” said  Stephanie Graff, MD , director o...

From digitizing its guidelines to potential embedding them in EMRs, the National Comprehensive Cancer  Network (NCCN) is working to “make the workflow easier and better” for oncologists, Crystal S. Denlinger, MD, FACP, CEO of the NCCN, told Robert A. Figlin, MD, the interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer in  Los Angeles and Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology, at this year’s Amer...

“Is it time to do something big and different? That’s always a good question to ask,” said  W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, MMHC , the immediate former director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the current CEO of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. At the  2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting , Dr. R...

A late-breaking abstract presented at the  2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting  ( LBA3 ) showed that rusfertide significantly increased hematocrit control and improved symptoms for patients with polycythemia vera, a chronic leukemia. “We thought if we could use our understanding of iron regulation, then we could change the game a little bit,” said  Andrew Kuykendall, MD , ass...