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European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)
ESMO is Europe's oncology society, known for its Congress each autumn and the ESMO-MCBS scale for grading the value of new drugs.
Overview
The European Society for Medical Oncology, based in Lugano, is Europe's oncology society, known for its Congress each autumn, the ESMO Breast meeting, the journals Annals of Oncology and ESMO Open, and the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale that grades the value of new drugs. It issues clinical practice guidelines that OnCo carries as a collection, and its people include Pilar Garrido, Josep Tabernero, Fabrice André, Giuseppe Curigliano and Andrés Cervantes. OnCo links it to bottlenecks on knowledge reaching practice too slowly and the exclusion of older patients, and to ideas such as capping public drug prices to tiers of the ESMO and ASCO value scales. Whether the MCBS can be made to bite on prices is the open question. Its Congress, MCBS and guideline programmes are listed below.
Location
Lugano, CH
Type
consortium
Website
Newsweek 2026 oncology rank
Not in top 300 listing used
OnCo score
#15 · 102 points (0 Newsweek + 0 NCI + 102 from 51 linked objects) · ranking
- ESMO Congress
- ESMO-MCBS
- Guidelines
Andrés Cervantes
Professor of Medicine, University of Valencia; Head of Medical Oncology, INCLIVA; ESMO President 2023-2024
Gastrointestinal oncologyColorectal cancerGuidelines
Andrés Cervantes is a gastrointestinal oncologist and was ESMO President for 2023-2024.
Eric Van Cutsem
Professor of Medicine and Head of Digestive Oncology, University Hospitals Leuven
Colorectal cancerGastro-oesophageal cancerAnti-EGFR therapy
Led CRYSTAL, which established cetuximab in RAS wild-type colorectal cancer, and has shaped ESMO's GI guidelines for two decades.
Fabrice André
Director of Research, Gustave Roussy; Professor of Medical Oncology, Paris-Saclay
Breast cancerPrecision oncologyGenomics-driven trials
Breast cancer geneticist who led SOLAR-1 and the SAFIR precision-medicine trials; ESMO President 2025-2026.
Giuseppe Curigliano
Director, Early Drug Development Division, IEO; Professor of Medical Oncology, University of Milan
Breast cancerEarly drug developmentHER2-low disease
Breast oncologist and phase 1 leader who co-led DESTINY-Breast06 and shaped the HER2-low concept.
Josep Tabernero
Director, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO); Head of Medical Oncology, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital
Colorectal cancerGastrointestinal oncologyEarly drug development
Colorectal cancer trialist who led BEACON and BREAKWATER, bringing targeted therapy to BRAF-mutant disease; former ESMO President.
Martine Piccart
Scientific Director, Institut Jules Bordet; Co-founder, Breast International Group
Breast cancerAdjuvant trastuzumabInternational trial networks
Co-founded the Breast International Group and led HERA, the trial that made adjuvant trastuzumab standard.
Nathan Cherny
Director, Cancer Pain and Palliative Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Center; Chair, ESMO-MCBS Working Group
Palliative medicineValue assessment of cancer drugsEthics
Created the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale, the standard tool for grading how much a cancer drug really helps.
Pilar Garrido
Head of Medical Oncology, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal; Professor, Universidad de Alcalá; former ESMO Council member
Lung cancerPrecision oncologyHealth policy
Pilar Garrido is a thoracic oncologist and past president of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology.
Solange Peters
Head of Medical Oncology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV); ESMO President 2020-2021
Thoracic oncologyImmunotherapyMesothelioma
Solange Peters is a lung cancer trialist and past ESMO President who led CheckMate 743 in mesothelioma.
guidelineAnnals of Oncology 2025changed practice13 citations
Updated treatment recommendations for systemic treatment: from the ESMO Metastatic Breast Cancer Living Guideline
For a fast-moving disease the living guideline, not the 2021 paper, is where European recommendations for triple-negative breast cancer now change; readers should check the website rather than the journal.
guidelineAnnals of Oncology 2024changed practice700 citations
Early breast cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
This is the European standard the UK page for triple-negative breast cancer is compared against; NICE guidance covers the same ground with a narrower set of funded drugs.
guidelineAnnals of Oncology 2023changed practice507 citations
Biliary tract cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
This is the reference European standard against which UK and NHS practice for gallbladder cancer is compared; it treats gallbladder cancer within biliary tract cancer rather than as its own disease.
guidelineAnnals of Oncology 2023changed practice1,512 citations
Metastatic colorectal cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
This is the European standard the UK and NHS page for colorectal cancer is compared against; NICE NG151 covers the same ground for England with a narrower set of funded drugs.
guidelineAnnals of Oncology 2023changed practice426 citations
Pancreatic cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
This is the European standard the UK and NHS page for pancreatic cancer is compared against; NICE guideline NG85 (2018) covers the same ground with an older evidence base and a narrower set of funded drugs.
guidelineAnnals of Oncology 2021changed practice1,204 citations
ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for the diagnosis, staging and treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer
The document that made immunotherapy, PARP inhibition and the first antibody-drug conjugate the European standard for metastatic triple-negative disease; every later first-line change is an amendment to it.
guidelineAnnals of Oncology 2020changed practice1,014 citations
Localised colon cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
The European rulebook for what happens after a colon cancer operation, and the reason a patient with a T3 N1 tumour is now offered three months of chemotherapy rather than six.
guidelineAnnals of Oncology 2017changed practice1,445 citations
Rectal cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
The document behind the MRI-first rectal cancer pathway used across Europe and the UK; the total neoadjuvant therapy trials (RAPIDO, PRODIGE 23, OPRA) that came after it are the main reason an update was needed.
Similar pages
- InstitutionAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
Shares Micro-learning pushed to community oncologists within 30 days of a practice change, Cap public prices for new cancer drugs to tiers of the ESMO and ASCO value scales, End the abstract-to-paper gap: require full results with any conference presentation, Give negative trials plenary slots at the big cancer conferences.
- CollectionNCCN Guidelines
Shares Open licences for publicly funded cancer guidelines, Guidelines list the open trials at every decision point, updated monthly, A guideline fast track for repurposed drugs with phase 3 evidence but no manufacturer, Living guidelines published as versioned, computable rules.
- Key paperThe answer is 17 years, what is the question: understanding time lags in translational research
Shares Micro-learning pushed to community oncologists within 30 days of a practice change, Open licences for publicly funded cancer guidelines, End the abstract-to-paper gap: require full results with any conference presentation, Living, machine-readable guidelines pushed to the point of care in every country.
- Key paperPrasad: most surrogate endpoints in cancer trials correlate poorly with survival
Shares Power trials to detect a benefit patients would value, not the smallest detectable one, Win-ratio endpoints that weigh survival, toxicity and quality of life together, An independent programme that validates surrogate endpoints, setting by setting, Regulatory divergence between regions.
- TermStandard of care
Shares Nathan Cherny, Living, machine-readable guidelines pushed to the point of care in every country, Older and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreated, Knowledge reaches practice too slowly.
- Key paperPrognostic and predictive value of primary tumour side in patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer treated with chemotherapy and EGFR directed antibodies in six randomized trials
Shares Andrés Cervantes, Metastatic colorectal cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up, Josep Tabernero, Eric Van Cutsem.
- CompanyEORTC
Shares Mutual recognition of ethics review across countries, European Cancer Organisation, European Society of Surgical Oncology, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) / Ludwig Institute Lausanne.
- TermOverall survival (OS)
Shares Pre-specified crossover-adjusted survival in every trial that allows crossover, Launch prices indexed to the ESMO benefit scale, revisited when survival matures, Power trials to detect a benefit patients would value, not the smallest detectable one, Win-ratio endpoints that weigh survival, toxicity and quality of life together.
institutions
Champalimaud Foundation, Champalimaud Clinical CentreChinese Society of Clinical OncologyEuropean Cancer OrganisationEuropean Hematology AssociationEuropean Society for Clinical Nutrition and MetabolismEuropean Society for Radiotherapy and OncologyEuropean Society of Gynaecological OncologyEuropean Society of Surgical OncologyINCLIVA Biomedical Research Institute / Hospital Clínico Universitario de ValenciaInternational Association for the Study of Lung CancerIsrael Society of Clinical Oncology and Radiation TherapyJapanese Society of Medical OncologyLausanne University Hospital (CHUV) / Ludwig Institute LausanneMaria Skłodowska-Curie National Research Institute of OncologyMultinational Association of Supportive Care in CancerShaare Zedek Medical Center
roadmaps
Colorectal cancer roadmap: from the adenoma-carcinoma sequence and the first screening trials to total mesorectal excision, oxaliplatin, RAS testing, immunotherapy for mismatch repair-deficient disease, ctDNA-guided treatment and organ preservationGallbladder cancer roadmap: from a chance finding at gallstone surgery to a disease with its own trialsLymphoma roadmap: from a jaw tumour in Uganda and the first human cancer virus to gene-expression subtypes, PET-adapted chemotherapy, CAR-T cells, bispecific antibodies and the genetics-directed trials now recruitingPancreatic cancer roadmap: from Whipple's operation to gemcitabine, FOLFIRINOX, adjuvant chemotherapy, PARP inhibition, KRAS inhibition, vaccines and the surveillance questionTriple-negative breast cancer roadmap: from a remainder defined by three negative tests to immunotherapy, antibody-drug conjugates and the residual disease problem
ideas
A guideline fast track for repurposed drugs with phase 3 evidence but no manufacturerA shared compound library that rare cancer researchers can actually useAgree in advance how to borrow evidence between similar rare cancersAn independent programme that validates surrogate endpoints, setting by settingCap public prices for new cancer drugs to tiers of the ESMO and ASCO value scalesEnd the abstract-to-paper gap: require full results with any conference presentationFunded research pathways for surgeon-scientists and radiation oncologist-scientistsGet biomarker-directed aspirin after colorectal surgery into labels and guidelinesGive negative trials plenary slots at the big cancer conferencesGuidelines list the open trials at every decision point, updated monthlyLaunch prices indexed to the ESMO benefit scale, revisited when survival maturesLiving guidelines published as versioned, computable rulesLiving, machine-readable guidelines pushed to the point of care in every countryMicro-learning pushed to community oncologists within 30 days of a practice changeMutual recognition of ethics review across countriesOpen licences for publicly funded cancer guidelinesPay a different price for the same cancer drug depending on the indicationPower trials to detect a benefit patients would value, not the smallest detectable onePre-specified crossover-adjusted survival in every trial that allows crossoverPrice a cancer drug by how well it works in each cancerStop excluding brain metastases from cancer trialsTie coverage and copays to the ESMO benefit scaleWin-ratio endpoints that weigh survival, toxicity and quality of life together
collections
people
bottlenecks
Fragmented care and guideline gapsIncentives reward me-too drugs and marginal gainsKnowledge reaches practice too slowlyNot enough oncologists, nurses, pathologists, physicistsOlder and multimorbid patients are excluded and undertreatedPain relief and palliative care are unavailable to mostPrices and valueRegulatory divergence between regionsToxicity and quality of life are undervaluedTrial design, endpoints and costWeak real-world evidence and registries
key papers
Biliary tract cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-upEarly breast cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-upESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for the diagnosis, staging and treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancerLocalised colon cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-upMetastatic colorectal cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-upPancreatic cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-upRectal cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-upUpdated treatment recommendations for systemic treatment: from the ESMO Metastatic Breast Cancer Living Guideline