ESMO 2026 Policy Session: Personalised Oncology Across Health Systems
A full-day ESMO-side session in Madrid focused on how personalised oncology can move from molecular insight to measurable patient access. The meeting will examine whether health systems can identify the right patient, deliver the right test, interpret the result, act on eligibility and measure whether access has improved.
Event details
Event type
Congress-Side Session
Format
Full-day ESMO-side scientific-policy and implementation session, with a morning programme on the implementation backbone for personalised oncology and an afternoon programme applying the access agenda to priority cancer areas.
Audience
Oncologists, pathologists, molecular diagnostics leaders, cancer researchers, patient advocates, policymakers, payers, HTA stakeholders, data and AI experts, clinical trial leaders, prevention and supportive-care experts, industry partners and implementation specialists.
Why this event matters
Personalised oncology is no longer defined only by scientific discovery. It is increasingly defined by whether health systems can identify the right patient, deliver the right test, interpret the result, act on eligibility and measure whether access has improved.
Across Europe, patients can still be lost between early diagnosis, biomarker testing, molecular interpretation, treatment access, clinical trial referral, reimbursement, supportive care and outcomes measurement. This ESMO-side session will focus on the implementation conditions needed to make personalised oncology available, measurable and equitable across health systems.
Strategic frame
The meeting is structured around one pathway: Identify → Test → Interpret → Act → Measure.
The morning programme will build the implementation backbone for personalised oncology by connecting synthetic data, biomarker validation, molecular diagnostics, prevention, supportive care, patient engagement and health-system readiness. The afternoon programme will then apply this implementation agenda to priority cancer areas, including biomarker testing and liquid biopsy, pancreatic cancer, lung and breast cancer, and multiple myeloma.
The purpose is not to describe innovation again. The purpose is to define what health systems must build so that molecular or clinical eligibility leads to timely, equitable and measurable access.
Core question
How can health systems ensure that molecular or clinical eligibility triggers timely, equitable patient access?
Agenda snapshot
08:30-08:45 | Welcome and Opening Remarks
From Molecular Insight to Measurable Access
Opening remarks will frame the purpose of the meeting: moving beyond describing innovation and focusing on what health systems must do to make personalised oncology available, measurable and equitable.
08:45-09:00 | Where Do Health Systems Lose the Personalised Oncology Patient?
Opening scene-setter
This intervention introduces the access pathway that will guide the meeting: Identify → Test → Interpret → Act → Measure. It will highlight where patients are lost between diagnosis, biomarker testing, interpretation, treatment access, trial referral, reimbursement, supportive care and outcomes measurement.
09:00-09:45 | Five Projects, One Implementation Agenda
Rapid-fire project session
A rapid-fire session highlighting five European projects and asking what each can deliver to help health systems implement personalised oncology more effectively. The focus will be on concrete outputs for policy, clinical implementation, reimbursement, patient engagement and equitable access.
09:45-10:30 | From Project Outputs to Health-System Use
Moderated panel
This panel will examine how European project outputs can become useful tools for clinical pathways, reimbursement discussions, HTA, regulatory dialogue, patient engagement and health-system planning.
10:30-10:45 | Coffee Break
Networking and informal exchange
A short break for participants to continue discussion and connect across clinical, policy, patient, research and innovation communities.
10:45-11:30 | What Should Europe Build Next?
Implementation roundtable
This roundtable will define common implementation needs across the morning projects and afternoon tumour-specific sessions, including infrastructure, data, diagnostics, biomarkers, supportive care, prevention, payer evidence and patient involvement.
11:30-13:30 | Lunch Break / Networking
Informal exchange
Networking lunch and informal discussion before the afternoon disease-focused programme.
13:30-14:30 | Biomarker Testing and Liquid Biopsy
The diagnostic gateway to personalised oncology
This session will examine how biomarker testing, NGS, comprehensive genomic profiling and liquid biopsy can become part of the routine cancer pathway, including reimbursement, quality assurance, turnaround times, molecular tumour boards and equitable access to expertise.
14:30-15:30 | Pancreatic Cancer
Earlier diagnosis, molecular stratification and access to innovation
This session will examine why personalised oncology must begin earlier in the pancreatic cancer pathway, focusing on earlier diagnosis, referral, hereditary risk, molecular profiling, liquid biopsy, trial access and access gaps across countries, regions and centres.
15:30-15:45 | Coffee Break
Networking and informal exchange
A short break before the afternoon sessions on lung, breast cancer and multiple myeloma.
15:45-16:45 | Lung and Breast Cancer
Turning molecular eligibility into patient access
This session will examine how molecular testing, targeted therapies, immunotherapy, recurrence-risk tools, imaging, liquid biopsy and real-world evidence are changing lung and breast cancer care, and what health systems must do to align diagnostics, reimbursement, pathways and treatment access.
16:45-17:45 | Multiple Myeloma
MRD, innovation and evidence-to-access pathways
This session will focus on rapid therapeutic and diagnostic innovation in multiple myeloma, including molecular profiling, MRD testing, treatment sequencing, cellular therapies, bispecific antibodies, real-world evidence, affordability, quality of life and equitable access.
17:45-18:00 | Closing Reflections
From Molecular Insight to Measurable Access
The closing reflections will bring together the morning project discussion and the afternoon disease-specific sessions, identify priorities to take forward after ESMO and define a practical implementation agenda.
Tracks, labs or working groups
Implementation Backbone for Personalised Oncology
This track focuses on the infrastructure needed to make personalised oncology available, measurable and equitable. It connects synthetic data, biomarker validation, molecular diagnostics, prevention, supportive care, patient engagement, payer evidence and health-system readiness.
Expected output:
Cross-project implementation priorities and common barriers to inform post-ESMO follow-up with SYNTHIA, BRECISE, SPARC, ON-COME and iBeChange.
Biomarker Testing and Liquid Biopsy
This track examines biomarker testing and liquid biopsy as the diagnostic gateway to personalised oncology. It focuses on NGS, comprehensive genomic profiling, liquid biopsy, reimbursement, laboratory capacity, quality assurance, molecular tumour boards, digital pathology and equitable access to diagnostic expertise.
Expected output:
Implementation priorities for making biomarker testing, liquid biopsy and molecular interpretation part of routine cancer pathways.
Priority Cancer Pathways
This track applies the personalised oncology access agenda to pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer and multiple myeloma. It examines earlier diagnosis, molecular stratification, treatment access, trial access, MRD, real-world evidence, patient-centred outcomes and equity across countries and centres.
Expected output:
Cancer pathway priorities feeding into the ESMO Personalised Oncology Access Statement and eligibility-to-access pathway map.
Eligibility to Measurable Access
This track brings together the meeting’s central pathway: Identify → Test → Interpret → Act → Measure. It asks how health systems can ensure that molecular or clinical eligibility leads to timely access, appropriate treatment, trial referral, reimbursement, supportive care and measurable patient benefit.
Expected output:
Eligibility-to-access pathway map and five to seven implementation priorities across diagnostics, treatment access, reimbursement, data, prevention, supportive care and equity.
People and contributors
Denis Horgan
Expected outputs
This activity is designed to produce practical outputs that can support follow-up after the meeting. Depending on the format, outputs may include a public statement, implementation brief, consensus note, pathway prototype, readiness map, roadmap or stakeholder summary.
ESMO Personalised Oncology Access Statement
Eligibility-to-Access Pathway Map
Post-ESMO Implementation Priorities
Post-ESMO Policy Communiqué
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Join us at ESMO 2026 Personalised Oncology Session
23 October 2026 | 20:00 - 21:00
Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas, Calle Melchor Fernández Almagro, 3, 28029 Madrid, Spain, Madrid, Spain • Europe / Global
Interested in this event?
IPM Alliance welcomes engagement from policymakers, scientific experts, patient organisations, health-system leaders, industry partners and implementation actors.