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Insights from ESMO 2026
Five shifts shaping the next chapter of oncology
ESMO 2026 demonstrated the extraordinary breadth of innovation happening across oncology.
From advances in ADCs and multispecific antibodies to individualised cancer vaccines, molecular imaging and ctDNA, the science is giving clinicians an increasingly sophisticated set of tools for understanding and treating cancer. But it also highlights a corresponding challenge: as the number of possibilities grows, so does the complexity of choosing the most appropriate approach for each patient.
Here are five themes that stood out.
THE QUICK 5: KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. The oncology toolbox keeps expanding
The Download: ESMO demonstrated innovation across ADCs, multispecific antibodies, T-cell engagers, individualised cancer vaccines and molecular imaging, alongside advances in the design of increasingly sophisticated therapies.
The Clinical Shift: The conversation is moving beyond whether we have an effective treatment to understanding how different therapeutic approaches might best be used for individual patients.
2. Personalisation is getting more precise
The Download: Studies highlighted in the ESMO report explored different dimensions of treatment decision-making, including intervention, combination, sequencing and treatment duration.
The Clinical Shift: Personalised medicine increasingly involves a series of decisions across the patient journey rather than a single moment of treatment selection.
3. Diagnostics are changing what we can see
The Download: Research into ctDNA explored the ability to identify molecular evidence of disease that conventional imaging may not detect, while PREDICT-HER examined HER2 across metastatic sites using whole-body imaging.
The Clinical Shift: Greater visibility of an individual's cancer has the potential to inform increasingly precise treatment decisions. But the data also underline the need for caution: the absence of detectable disease does not necessarily equate to the absence of cancer.
4. Personalisation means understanding people too
The Download: ESMO highlighted questions around sex, gender and representation within oncology research and care, including through its focus on gynaecological cancers and Women for Oncology.
The Clinical Shift: Understanding tumour biology is essential, but truly individualised care must also recognise differences between people, their experiences and what is important to them.
5. As the science becomes more complex, communication matters more
The Download: Across ESMO, complex scientific advances were frequently translated into much simpler ideas about what innovation could ultimately mean for patients.
The Communications Shift: For healthcare communicators, there is a clear challenge: scientific sophistication cannot become a barrier to understanding. We need to make innovation meaningful without losing the rigour behind it.
