On September 13-17, 2024, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) annual meeting will be held in Barcelona, Spain. A number of A-share listed companies will disclose the latest developments and data on their listed or under development drugs at the event.

ESMO was established in 1975 and is a professional organization in Europe that researches oncology and related content. Its members include more than 35,000 oncology professionals from over 160 countries worldwide. ESMO Annual Meeting, along with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), is considered one of the world's top three cancer meetings. The clinical research results of innovative drug products released at ESMO are often considered authoritative.

From the list of exhibitors at the conference, A-share listed companies such as Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Beigene, Biotime Holdings, and Wuxi Apptec are prominently featured. Well-known international giants such as Astrazeneca, GSK, and Johnson & Johnson are also present.

Based on publicly available information on the official website, the Futubull Daily found that the innovative drugs to be reported by exhibitors at this year's ESMO conference involve a variety of hot areas in oncology drug development, such as ADCs, bispecific antibodies, and PD-1 monoclonal antibodies. For example, Beigene's marketed product, Tislelizumab, which is a PD-1 mechanism drug, will be discussed for three tumor types: thymic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and more.

Turning attention to the ADC drugs that the capital market is relatively interested in, it is found that several listed companies will disclose related clinical data:

Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals will announce for the first time the related clinical data of its self-developed ADC drug SHR-A1904. In October last year, this product was licensed to Merck Healthcare for 1.4 billion euros. In terms of research and development progress, the product is currently undergoing a phase 1/2 clinical study in the United States to evaluate its safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary efficacy in advanced solid tumor patients.

Biological Time Holdings' independently developed BL-B01D1 (Lorinser Pomalidomide) is the world's first EGFR/HER3 dual-specificity ADC to enter clinical trial stage. At the end of last year, the company licensed this product to Bristol-Myers Squibb for a potential total value of up to $8.4 billion. In terms of research and development progress, this drug has been deployed in phase III studies in six tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, and triple-negative breast cancer, and the relevant data will be reported at this conference.

In addition, the ADC drugs that will be discussed at the ESMO conference include Remegen's vedolizumab, Shenzhen Chipscreen's sidiabin, and these drugs are currently on the market. According to Frost Sullivan, the global ADC drug market is expected to grow from $7.9 billion in 2022 to $64.7 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 30.0%.

In addition, the ESMO website also shows the research worth paying attention to, and three thematic reports are said to be thoroughly discussed: 1) the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on tumor diagnosis and treatment in the evolving field of precision medicine; 2) potential factors leading to the global trend of tumor youthfulness; 3) the potential of clinical and preclinical science in understanding DNA repair mechanisms.

In addition, new treatment plans for prostate cancer, liver cancer, and cervical cancer will also be discussed, which may change future clinical events; relevant research on tumors with high unmet needs has also achieved some results and will be showcased at the conference, such as a phase 3 trial that may propose new standards for anal cancer treatment.