Along with the clinical studies presented during the daily plenaries, symposia, and poster sessions, the Annual Meeting program features four in-depth Clinical Trials Plenary Sessions looking at novel therapies making their way to the clinic. Each session will feature four trial presentations, each of which will be followed by an expert discussant who will present the science behind the trial.

“The trials that will be presented during these sessions represent some of the most innovative and potentially practice-changing translational work being conducted in cancer research today,” said Julie R. Brahmer, MD, MSc, who serves as co-chair of the Annual Meeting Clinical Trials Committee with Timothy A. Yap, MD, PhD.

“Among the trials we’ll hear about—some being reported for the first time—include important studies looking at cellular therapies, novel immunotherapeutics, and molecularly targeted therapy drugs, including new ways of targeting the DNA damage response and new information on targeting KRAS,” Yap said.

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Clinical Trials of Cellular Immunotherapies
Sunday, April 10 | 1 – 3:05 p.m. CDT | Hall B-C, Convention Center

“This session will have a particular focus on novel cellular therapies for solid tumors, including novel ways of delivering those therapies, as well as a clinically important study looking at characteristics that are associated with toxicity and activity for a CAR-T cell product that is currently being used in the clinic,” Yap said. “While some of these trials are very experimental, there are emerging findings that have applicability in the clinic right now.”

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Clinical Trials Targeting the DNA Damage Response and KRAS
Sunday, April 10 | 3 – 5:05 p.m. CDT | Great Hall AD, Convention Center

“There are some very novel drugs targeting the DNA damage response pathway that are being developed, including some that will be presented for the very first time during this session,” Brahmer said. “Among these trials, we’ll hear findings from the first in-human trial of a first-in-class, next-generation PARP-1 selective inhibitor (AZD5305), as well as important data on long-term survival in patients who are being treated with the now FDA-approved KRAS-G12C inhibitor sotorasib.”

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Neoadjuvant and Perioperative Immunotherapy Clinical Trials
Monday, April 11 | 10:15 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. CDT | Hall B-C, Convention Center

“During this plenary, we’ll hear about important emerging findings of trials looking at checkpoint blockade immunotherapy in early-stage disease, including innovative trials in gastric and ovarian cancer,” Brahmer said. “We’ll hear, for example, late-breaking findings from the NeoCOAST trial looking at neoadjuvant durvalumab in combination with novel agents, as well as findings from CheckMate 816 on the recently FDA-approved combination of neoadjuvant nivolumab and chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer.”

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Combination Immunotherapy Clinical Trials
Tuesday, April 12 | 10:15 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. CDT | Hall B-C, Convention Center

“The trials that will be presented during this plenary provide important insights into the rational and effective combinations of different immunotherapy drugs, particularly focusing on patients who don’t respond to single-agent immunotherapy or chemotherapy combinations,” said Yap, who will chair the session. “There are some very exciting findings coming out of these trials that are making their way to the clinic.”

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