After two days of active discussions on the up-to-date knowledge of cancer research and patient care, the 5th Korean Society of Medical Oncology’s International Conference (KSMO 2023) closed its doors on Friday.
It was KSMO’s first return to full strength in four years since the Covid-19 pandemic without any restrictions.
This year, over 2,000 oncology experts from 45 countries gathered at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul in the southeastern part of the capital city to participate in 52 sessions, discussing the latest cancer research.
Asia had the highest number of participants, with 1,948 attendees from 18 countries, followed by North America with 43 people, Europe with 42, Africa with 13, Oceania with six, and South America with two.
KSMO’s joint symposiums with the world’s renowned oncology societies began with American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on Thursday.
The first joint session was delivered by Dr. Lori J. Wirth from Massachusetts General Hospital who spoke on targeting NTRK fusion-positive cancers.
Scientific symposiums touched upon immunotherapy, genomics, artificial intelligence (AI), precision medicine, lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, breast cancer, and genitourinary medicine.
KSMO received approximately 850 high-quality abstracts, and among them, 700 of them were presented through poster or oral presentations.
Some of them were disclosed for the first time at KSMO 2023.
Among the total of about 2,000 participants, around 1,000 attended the conference virtually.
Plenary lectures -- two on Thursday and two on Friday -- were well received by the audience, prompting active Q&A sessions.
Carlos L. Arteaga, Director of UT Southwestern Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, spoke on mechanisms of resistance to endocrine therapy in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer.
He noted that only a fraction of ER+/FGFR1 (fibroblast growth factor receptor 1) breast cancers are FGFR1-dependent and, thus, likely to respond to FGFR1 inhibitors.
On Friday, Roy S. Herbst at Yale School of Medicine gave a lecture on breakthroughs in targeted therapy and immunotherapy for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through a virtual presentation.
Although KSMO has a relatively short history of 19 years, its capability to host a grandiose international conference has grown exponentially.
The number of participants surged to over 2,000 this year, compared to some 1,600 last year.
“KSMO has put together all the efforts to find out how it can place advanced science and translate it to support patients. It’s important to make sure that all the multidisciplinary work is converged and connected to the patients,” said Seock-Ah Im, Chair of the KSMO 2023 Organizing Committee.
Im noted that Korea is a strong nation in translational studies.
“One of the great things about Korea is that the results of these clinical trials can eventually be used for patient care, so we prepared the program with a focus on making those things practical,” she said.
More specifically, the two-day program consisted of scientific symposiums, joint symposiums with ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology), ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology), JSMO (Japanese Society of Medical Oncology), and KSP (Korean Society of Pathologists), and education sessions for early career oncologists, nurses, pharmacists, scientists, and clinical research associates (CRAs).
Professor Alexander Swarbrick at Garvan Institute of Medical Research, University of New South Wales, from Sydney, Australia commended the KSMO’s work.
“It’s bigger than I anticipated. Looking at the program, there’s lots of exciting content,” Swarbrick told Korea Biomedical Review.
He works on tumor microenvironment, with particular interest in immunotherapy, immuno-oncology, and breast cancer.
He said the program was well-balanced, showcasing not only clinical trials but translational and fundamental studies.
Mike Groaning, Global Medical Affairs Lead at Amgen, also expressed his satisfaction with the KSMO program.
On Thursday morning, he spoke on “Bi-specific T cell engager and CAR T in castration-resistant prostate cancer.”
“This is my first time here, and I have been really enjoying it,” he said, noting that he just heard a good review on small cell lung cancer, presented by Professor Jung Hyun-ae of Hematology-Oncology at Samsung Medical Center.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies that sponsored the KSMO 2023 event placed their exhibition booths next to Vista Hall Lobby in B2 and Grand Hall Lobby in B1, to attract physicians’ attention to their key treatments.
Main sponsors including Boryung, Merck (MSD), Novartis, Roche, and Pfizer had their booths in B2. Sub-sponsor firms such as Yuhan Corp., Hanmi Pharm, Samjin Pharm, and Amgen Korea were located in B1.
