Oncology Icons Look Ahead to ASCO 2025

Neel Shah, MD, medical oncologist at Northwest Cancer Centers and our first 2025 Oncology Icon, and Manmeet Ahluwalia, MD, MBA, FASCO, chief scientific officer, chief of medical oncology, deputy director, and Fernandez Family endowed chair in cancer research at the Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute, discuss what they look most forward to hearing about and learning at the upcoming 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

Shah first reflects on the significant advancements in the field, noting the dramatic increase in available cancer drugs from approximately 20-30 only 2 decades ago to over 300 today. He highlights the positive shift towards "non-chemotherapy options," a reality for the majority of his current patients, a stark contrast to his early career.

“Thankfully, most of the patients I treat every day are no longer receiving chemotherapy. That wasn’t the case when I started doing this,” says Shah.

The progress, according to Shah, lies not only in the number of new agents but also in their nature. He emphasizes the development of immunotherapy, antibody-drug conjugates, and targeted therapies, which offer more precise cancer targeting and often result in fewer debilitating adverse events for patients.

“With immunotherapy, antibody-drug conjugates, and targeted therapies, we are not only providing better treatments but also targeting the cancer more precisely, often with fewer [adverse events],” Shah explains. “Those are the kinds of drugs I am looking forward to learning more about—getting the latest updates and hearing about anything new on the horizon.”

Specifically, Shah expresses keen interest in receiving the latest updates and learning about novel developments within these classes of drugs. He is also looking forward to hearing updated data on bispecific antibodies, a recently approved class of agents showing promising potential in cancer care. For Shah, ASCO 2025 represents an invaluable opportunity to stay at the forefront of these innovative approaches, ultimately benefiting the patients he serves within the community oncology setting.

Ahluwalia, a 2023 Oncology Icon honoree, then shares his excitement, particularly regarding the potentially practice-changing abstracts that will be presented.

“I would definitely tell people to follow the ASCO closely, because we are not going to have 2 or 3; we are going to have more than that practice-changing studies that will be presented. I could not be more excited to be there in person and to see this practice-changing research being presented,” he explains.