Oncology clinical trials are complex and costly, making a successful setup critical. Facing challenges such as long timelines and patient recruitment, patient-centric approaches such as AI, digital twins, and decentralised trials are improving enrolment, especially for cancer patients, but 2025 has given rise to new headwinds.
Budgetary constraints are mounting due to the Trump administration’s deep cuts to US health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which observers believe will lead to delays in drug approvals, among other challenges.
Against a backdrop of myriad challenges and what they could mean for oncology clinical trials, mitigating costs for oncology clinical trials through the application of technology, ensuring trials’ financial feasibility, and fostering strong relationships with contract research organisations (CROs) are just some of the topics that will be under discussion at the Clinical Trials in Oncology (CTO) East Coast 2025 conference, taking place on 8-9 July in Boston, Massachusetts.
The first day of the conference will feature two streams, with Stream A focused on clinical operations and Stream B on patient centricity.
Following opening remarks from chairperson Keya Watkins, senior vice president at Catalyst Oncology, Stream A will kick off with a panel discussion evaluating the evolving oncology trials landscape in the US. Speakers, including Modex Therapeutics’ chief medical officer Giovanni Abbadessa, and Holly Huang, vice president, head of biometrics at Denovo Biopharma, will offer insight into navigating the evolving regulatory landscape effectively and how to understand the impact geopolitical shifts are having on oncology trials within the US and further afield.
Later that morning, Leena Gandhi, chief medical officer at NextPoint Therapeutics, will discuss how new approaches to protocol design in oncology trials can shorten study timelines and decrease costs.
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By GlobalDataIn Stream B, the afternoon will kick off with a discussion on how emerging technologies are poised to enhance patient experience during oncology trials from Lisa La and Rebecca Jacob, two project team leads in oncology clinical trials at Sanofi. They will touch on themes such as how best to incorporate new technology into oncology trials to bolster patient experience, and how to effectively deploy these new technologies to drive trial efficiencies.
In addition, the Stream B afternoon sessions will touch on topics, including how to design effective patient recruitment strategies for rare cancer trials and what can be done to raise awareness of oncology trials to reach target patient populations and increase participation.
Meanwhile, the afternoon sessions in Stream A will touch on topics including how to ensure trial sites are collecting data in a timely and efficient manner and solving challenges early on to ensure operational excellence. The stream will close out with a keynote from Shaily Arora, executive director, oncology and regulatory strategy at AstraZeneca, on how organisations running clinical trials can take advantage of the FDA’s expedited programmes that are designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of drugs to treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need.
Day two of the conference will delve into the minutiae of steps and best practices that organisations running oncology clinical trials can take to ensure the best chances of success.
Speakers will discuss topics including how to select the most appropriate contract research organisation (CRO), the importance of collaboration in nurturing positive trial outcomes, and how best to make the transition from legacy, onsite, to centralised and risk-based monitoring.
The conference is hosted by Arena International Events Group, a B2B events company owned by GlobalData, the parent company of Clinical Trials Arena.
A full agenda for the CTO East Coast 2025 conference can be found here.
