From the chosen molecular target and the compound’s molecular structure, numerous factors must be considered when designing new therapeutics for patients. At the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, three New Drugs on the Horizon sessions will delve into exciting behind-the-scenes strategies in oncology drug design and development, offering expert insight into the next-generation landscape.

“The New Drugs on the Horizon sessions aim to give people the opportunity to view, for the first time, structures for new molecules entering clinical development,” said Lori S. Friedman, PhD, chair of the AACR Chemistry in Cancer Research (CICR) Working Group. “Additionally, presentations will share how the research teams validated and interpreted their preclinical hypotheses, including the relationship between the drug structures and how the target-drug interaction modulates target biology,” added Friedman, who is from ORIC Pharmaceuticals.

Organized by the CICR Working Group, these sessions focus on agents in early-stage development with the potential to effect meaningful improvements in care. This year’s speakers will highlight drugs that aim to target oncogenic drivers, transcription factors, and immune signaling pathways via a variety of modalities, from small molecule degraders to bispecific drug conjugates to radioligand therapies. Rather than clinical data dissection, talks will dive into the finer details of drug discovery and design.

Therefore, Friedman said, the three-part series holds tremendous value for those interested in determining how different targeting strategies and modalities modulate biology, in the hopes of developing safer and more effective drugs.

“Attendees at the New Drugs on the Horizon sessions are excited by the significance of the first reveal of new therapies,” Friedman said. “The cross-functional process of discovery and validation of new therapeutics is like a giant puzzle, and seeing how a team fits the pieces together to solve that puzzle can inspire further innovative approaches to solve specific problems, to help patients.”

Attendees will also have the opportunity to view first-time disclosures of drugs that may one day change existing standards of care, as all presentations will include an unveiling of the chemical or biological structure of the agent under investigation.

As Friedman highlighted, the chemical structure of the new PI3K inhibitor for breast cancer, inavolisib, was first revealed at a New Drugs on the Horizon session at the AACR Annual Meeting 2017, along with the first disclosure of its unique property as a mono-degrader. Last year, inavolisib received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as part of a combination treatment for breast cancer. Read more about this approval in this AACR Cancer Research Catalyst blog post.

“These insights prompted additional research across labs to better understand the therapeutic interaction with the PI3K protein, and assessment of how further benefit may be provided to patients with cancer,” she explained.

Prior to the first New Drugs on the Horizon presentations to be featured today, this year’s conference also offered three Chemistry to the Clinic educational sessions organized by the CICR Working Group that were held yesterday.

These sessions covered topics including antibody-drug conjugates, MYC inhibitors, and cancer-specific vulnerabilities that have the potential to serve as drug targets with clinical breakthrough potential. Educational Sessions are available exclusively to those who add the AACR Annual Meeting 2025 Educational Program Pass to their registrations ($50 for AACR members and $95 for nonmembers). Registered attendees with the Educational Program Pass will also have access to on-demand recordings of all educational sessions through October 2025.

Following these events, Friedman will host the annual CICR Working Group Town Hall Meeting titled “Charting the Course: Innovating Cancer Drug Discovery in a Challenging Landscape,” on Monday, April 28.

For the most up-to-date information on session dates, times, and locations, check the Annual Meeting App and Online Itinerary Planner.

---

New Drugs on the Horizon Sessions

These sessions offer attendees the opportunity to view first disclosures of 12 innovative agents (both small molecules and biologics) that have recently entered, or will soon enter phase I clinical trials for the treatment of cancer. All presentations will reveal the chemical or biological structure of the agent under investigation, key highlights of the drug discovery program, and ongoing clinical development plans.

DDT01: New Drugs on the Horizon: Part 1

Sunday, April 27, 1-2:30 p.m. CT
Room S406 (Vista Ballroom), McCormick Place South (Level 4)

Session Chairs: Lori S. Friedman, PhD, ORIC Pharmaceuticals, and Daniel K. Nomura, PhD, UC Berkeley

---

DDT02: New Drugs on the Horizon: Part 2

Sunday, April 27, 3-4:30 p.m. CT
Room S406 (Vista Ballroom), McCormick Place South (Level 4)

Session Chairs: Danette L. Daniels, PhD, Foghorn Therapeutics, and Jennifer C. Petter, PhD, Arrakis Therapeutics

---

DDT03: New Drugs on the Horizon: Part 3

Monday, April 28, 10:15-11:45 a.m. CT
Room S406 (Vista Ballroom), McCormick Place South (Level 4)

Session Chairs: Mary M. Mader, PhD, of MM Molecular Pharma Consulting, LLC, and Frederic Zecri, PhD, of Mariana Oncology, a Novartis Company

---

Chemistry to the Clinic Educational Sessions

ED08: Chemistry to the Clinic Part 1 of 3: Expanding the Therapeutic Window of Antibody-drug Conjugates in Cancer

Registered attendees with an Educational Program Pass can view the recording of this Educational Session, held yesterday, on the virtual meeting platform through the end of October.

Session Chair: Greg Thurber, PhD, University of Michigan

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are having a large impact on the treatment of cancer with 13 FDA-approved agents and more than 100 in different stages of clinical trials. However, these drugs are complex to develop, requiring the integration of small molecule payloads and linker chemistry with the design and modification of monoclonal antibodies. This session presented next-generation chemical approaches for site-specific antibody conjugation of payloads with improved pharmacokinetic properties and also covered how these technologies can be leveraged to improve tumor uptake and tissue penetration, both as single agents and in combination.

---

ED09: Chemistry to the Clinic Part 2 of 3: MYC – The Last Frontier in Undruggable Targets

Registered attendees with an Educational Program Pass can view the recording of this Educational Session, held yesterday, on the virtual meeting platform through the end of October.

Session Chair: Laura Soucek, PhD, Vall D’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO)

MYC is dysregulated in most human cancers, and its aberrant activity has been linked to aggressive disease and resistance to treatment. Speakers in this session presented the most recent advances in MYC inhibitor development, involving different strategies and therapeutics, from small molecules to peptides and miniproteins, some of which are currently being investigated in clinical trials.

---

ED10: Chemistry to the Clinic Part 3 of 3: Advances in Ligand Discovery to Enable Previously Intractable Targets

Registered attendees with an Educational Program Pass can view the recording of this Educational Session, held yesterday, on the virtual meeting platform through the end of October.

Session Chair: Michael A. Erb, PhD, The Scripps Research Institute

The modern field of drug discovery benefits from an extraordinary understanding of the genetic and molecular mechanisms that underly oncogenesis. In recent years, the field has tirelessly catalogued the somatic DNA alterations that cause cancer, mapped the genetic dependencies of cancer cells at scale, and nominated many new cancer-specific vulnerabilities that would, in principle, make for excellent drug targets. This session focused on emerging breakthroughs in ligand discovery and proximity pharmacology that are making inroads into some of the most attractive, yet historically intractable, anticancer drug targets.

---

Town Hall Meeting

TM04: Charting the Course: Innovating Cancer Drug Discovery in a Challenging Landscape – A Chemistry in Cancer Research Working Group Town Hall Meeting

Monday, April 28, 6:30-8:30 p.m. CT
Room S103, McCormick Place South (Level 1)

Session Chair: Lori S. Friedman, PhD, ORIC Pharmaceuticals

This Town Hall Meeting will address important topics and challenges at the forefront of cancer drug discovery and development.