It is not often that the oncology community looks to the Supreme Court to forecast its future. In 2024, two decisions seemingly unrelated to health care were issued that are likely to have a monumental impact on oncology care delivery. The Court’s rulings—on June 28, Loper Bright Enterprises et al v Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce et al and on July 1, Corner Post, Inc. v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System—changed the way federal laws and regulations that govern cancer care, cancer research, and health care as a whole are made. ASCO has voiced serious concerns about these rulings, which destabilize the administrative state and the regulatory framework on which the U.S. health-care system is built.

The combination of the EGFR-MET bispecific antibody amivantamab-vmjw and the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor lazertinib continues to demonstrate superior efficacy compared with the kinase inhibitor osimertinib alone in the first-line treatment of EGFR-mutant advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These findings were presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer. Extended follow-up data from the phase III MARIPOSA study showed 3-year intracranial progression-free survival with the combination was more than double that of osimertinib monotherapy (38% vs 18%).

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has always prided itself on its commitment to evidence-based, expert consensus–driven recommendations for cancer care, with a special focus on breaking down the barriers that contribute to disparities in outcomes across all patients with cancer. With that mission in mind, on September 10, 2024, experts assembled in Washington, DC, to participate in the NCCN Oncology Policy Summit: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Cancer Workforce. During the first panel discussion, experts with varied perspectives and experience thoughtfully discussed the many facets of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), why it is integral to the oncology workforce as well as vital for patients with cancer, and how to know when an institution has taken the necessary steps to integrate practice strategies to improve the inequities in cancer care.

In the phase III ENGOT-cx11/GOG-3047/KEYNOTE-A18 trial presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024, the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab plus chemoradiotherapy, with pembrolizumab continued as monotherapy, improved overall survival in previously untreated, high-risk locally advanced cervical cancer, validating the regimen as the new standard of care in high-risk patients. Domenica Lorusso, MD, PhD, of the Gynaecology/Oncology Unit of Fondazione Policinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome and Humanitas San Pio X, Milan, Italy, presented the findings during the Presidential Symposium on Practice-Changing Trials, garnering robust applause from the audience. The updated analysis was simultaneously published in The Lancet.