Pfizer and Roche hope to score with ESMO presentations, notes GlobalData

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) will kick off its 2012 annual meeting on Friday, September 28 in Vienna, Austria. ESMO reports that this year’s meeting will be bigger and better than ever as abstract submissions increased by 30% compared to the previous year.

The society has highlighted a number of indications for which potentially game-changing results will be presented. These include lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, melanoma, early and metastatic breast cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, CNS tumors, ovarian cancer, and sarcoma. Targeted therapies are a clear theme throughout the conference, notes industry expert GlobalData, and point to a continuing trend towards the incorporation of personalized medicine in the treatment patterns for many cancers.

Although the ESMO conference does not attract the media maelstrom associated with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, GlobalData is eagerly anticipating data from a number of presentations. It is especially interested in the late-breaking abstracts to be presented at the Presidential Symposia on Sunday, September 30 and Monday, October 1. Many of these abstracts are not yet available to the public, as they are embargoed until after the start of the symposia at which they will be presented.