The development of oral selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs) represents substantial progress for patients with metastatic breast cancer who have ESR1 mutations. “I’m extremely excited because they’re the most effective form of endocrine therapy today,” says Wassim Mchayleh, MD, MBA, the clinical program director of the breast cancer program at AdventHealth Cancer Institute and associate professor of medicine at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He spoke with Robert A. Figlin, MD, the interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles and Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology about SERDs that are currently available and those in development. When it comes to weighing toxicity, “across the board, they are very well-tolerated endocrine therapies with a very low discontinuation rate,” Dr. Mchayleh noted. In addition to recent key clinical trial results, he also looked ahead to what data may help establish the drug class as a replacement for the current standard of care.

Dr. Mchayleh reported various financial relationships.

Dr. Figlin reported various financial relationships.

From a “game-changer” in triple-negative disease to broader paradigm shifts and practice changes, the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting was pivotal for breast cancer care, says Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, chief of the Division of Breast Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Tolaney broke down some of the top data at ASCO 2025 with Robert A. Figlin, MD, the interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles, California, and Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology. She singled out findings from the ASCENT-04 trial, the plenary session on SERENA-6, and the DESTINY-Breast09 trial. “I think it’s been a very exciting ASCO for breast cancer overall, with just so much exciting data,” Dr. Tolaney concluded.

Results from the phase 3 ATOMIC trial are practice changing for colorectal cancer care and raise broader questions about immunotherapy use in patients with mismatch repair deficiencies across tumor types. Frank A. Sinicrope, MD, a professor of oncology and medicine at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota, presented the findings at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. He discussed the significance of the ATOMIC results and next steps with Robert A. Figlin, MD, the interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles and Steven Spielberg Family Chair in Hematology-Oncology. “I think that microsatellite instability is a terrific predictive biomarker for immunotherapy, and all of these patients should get immunotherapy in some form or another,” Dr. Sinicrope noted.