ASCO 2025: Research from the ICR and The Royal Marsden takes centre stage at major conference
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The 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, held from 30 May to 3 June, brought together leading oncologists and researchers from around the world for one of the most significant annual events in cancer research.
Each year, ASCO serves as a crucial platform for presenting groundbreaking studies, ranging from major phase III clinical trial results to innovative early-stage research and cutting-edge translational work. World-renowned specialists also provided comprehensive analysis across all areas of oncology, shaping the future of cancer treatment and patient care.
This year, almost 50 individual research studies were presented by or involving researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and our partners at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
The ICR Media Relations Team issued several media releases and press statements to highlight research being presented at the conference, securing national and international media coverage for a number of these studies.
Here are some of our highlights:
Liquid biopsies available on the NHS
To coincide with ASCO beginning on Friday 30 May, NHS England announced it will be rolling out blood tests for cancer to thousands of patients. The approach could help some patients receive targeted therapy earlier, while others could avoid further tests and treatments altogether.
ICR staff scientist Dr Isaac Garcia-Murillas, based in the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre, commented on the technology, also known as liquid biopsies, and was featured in The Times, The Telegraph, Express, Mirror, and The Sun.
AI test to end abiraterone ‘postcode lottery’
Professor Nick James presented his research, which uses a new AI test to pick out which men with high-risk prostate cancer that has not spread will require the life-extending drug abiraterone.
When the team analysed tumour samples from men who took part in the STAMPEDE trial, they found that three out of four men could be spared unnecessary treatment, making the drug – discovered at the ICR – more affordable for the NHS.
The ICR’s Media Relations Team issued a press release and the story appeared in The Guardian, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, London Standard, The Sun, Express, and The Independent.
Professor James spoke with LBC News, Radio News Hub, and BBC World Service Newshour (here from 39 mins).
Immunotherapy could ‘change the world’ for head and neck cancer patients
Professor Kevin Harrington is the UK study lead for the Phase III Keynote-689 trial, which found that immunotherapy pembrolizumab added to standard therapy gave head and neck cancer patients extra years disease-free.
After three years, patients given pembrolizumab had a 10 per cent reduced risk of their cancer returning elsewhere in the body – indicating that the immune system is activated to hunt down metastatic cancer.
The ICR’s Media Relations Team issued a press release and the story appeared in the BBC, The Times, The Guardian, The Sun, The Independent, Daily Mail, Express
Professor Harrington was interviewed alongside Laura Marston, a patient with head and neck cancer, for BBC News, which aired on BBC Breakfast and throughout the day. He was also interviewed on BBC 5 Live, BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme, here from 52:36 and BBC World Service Newshour, here from 38:35.
New triple therapy improves survival in advanced breast cancer
Professor Nick Turner presented two studies at ASCO this year.
The final results of the INAVO120 trial demonstrated that a promising new therapy – made up of a new targeted drug called inavolisib along with palbociclib and fulvestrant – can help patients with aggressive advanced breast cancer live longer and delay the need for further chemotherapy,
The ICR’s Media Relations team issued a press release and the story appeared in the Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Standard, The Guardian, The Times, The Express and The Sun. It also featured on ITV News, LBC, Sky News, and in hundreds to regional and local outlets.
Targeting tumours before they have a chance to grow
The ICR’s Media Relations Team also issued a press release to publicise Professor Turner’s plenary session presentation on the results of the Phase III SERENA-6 trial on Sunday June 2. The researchers found that a new drug called camizestrant could be used to treat emerging ESR1 mutations in advanced breast cancer, helping to keep patients well for longer and delaying the need for later-line therapies.
The story was picked up by US and UK media, featuring in NBC, Financial Times, The New York Times, The Times, Daily Mail, The Independent, Mail Online, The Standard, MSN, The Mirror, The Express and The Week. It also featured widely in regional and local media in the UK and US and internationally.
Exercise increases chance of surviving bowel cancer
Another piece of research that hit the headlines after being presented at ASCO this year was findings from the CHALLENGE trial which showed patients who are physically active have a greater chance of surviving bowel cancer, a lower chance of their disease coming back after treatment and a better quality of life afterwards.
Professor Amy Berrington, Professor Clinical Epidemiology at the ICR, who wasn't involved in the research, provided expert comment on the findings, saying:
"There have been several observational studies that suggested that exercise after colorectal diagnosis could reduce the risk of colorectal cancer mortality by about 25 per cent for 10 MET/hours per week.
"The findings from this large well-conducted trial are quite consistent with those previous observational studies – the trial found a 28 per cent reduction in disease-free survival with an exercise programme designed to increase exercise by 10 MET/hours per week.
"The two treatment groups were well balanced with respect to potential confounders through the randomisation. The programme was quite intensive, and adherence decreased over the three years, but the amount of exercise remained higher in the structured exercise programme group.
"It would be important to know how expensive these types of behaviour support programmes are to evaluate the cost-effectiveness. Also, the recruitment was very slow, suggesting that it was difficult to find patients willing to commit to this long programme, but hopefully these very positive results will help convince more patients to try what looks like a very promising safe and effective ‘treatment’."
Sharing our science with the global research community
ASCO 2025 proved to be another important gathering of the world's leading cancer researchers and clinicians, and there was certainly a lot of buzz in the press.
The conference remains an important opportunity for the global endeavour that is cancer research to be shared across the international community of researchers, working together to save and improve the lives of people with cancer everywhere.