ASCO 2025: In a Defining Era for Oncology, PICI Drives Patient Impact Forward

Chicago, IL – May 28, 2025 — As the global oncology community gathers in Chicago for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting this week (May 30–June 3), the field stands at a pivotal moment. Scientific breakthroughs in immunotherapy are arriving at a time of heightened pressure to deliver faster, smarter and more equitable impact. It’s within this context that the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) shows how a bold, integrated model can accelerate not just ideas—but cures.

PICI’s contributions at ASCO 2025 span more than 50 presentations, including 16 oral sessions, 30+ poster sessions, 10 e-papers and a featured clinical science symposium. This volume reflects not only the strength of the PICI Network, but also a unique ability to support promising work early and help carry it across the finish line. From foundational discoveries to near-practice-changing trials, the science on display moves with urgency, clarity and ambition—hallmarks of PICI’s model.

Adding to this strong presence, PICI CEO Dr. Karen Knudsen will receive ASCO’s Allen S. Lichter Visionary Leader Award during the opening session (Saturday, May 31, 9:45 AM–12:00 PM CDT, Room N – Hall B1). The award recognizes a career spent building bridges from bench to patient—and helping reshape how academic institutions, nonprofits and companies move from insight to implementation.

Glioblastoma: A Tough Target Meets a Smarter Approach

Glioblastoma remains one of oncology’s most formidable challenges. With few durable treatments and a highly evasive tumor microenvironment, it has long resisted meaningful clinical progress. But at ASCO 2025, multiple PICI-affiliated teams present data that suggest the field may be turning a corner. These efforts reflect how collaboration, persistence and innovation can converge on even the most intractable problems: 

• Stanford Medicine (Crystal Mackall, MD, Director of the PICI Center at Stanford; Michelle Monje, MD, PhD): Phase 1 data on intracranially infused B7H3 CAR T cells in recurrent glioblastoma delivered via dual Ommaya reservoirs. Median overall survival reached 14.6 months, a signal of tangible impact in a cancer where median survival has hovered around one year for decades. The study also established a recommended Phase 2 dose and demonstrated manageable inflammation using IL-1 blockade. The clinical feasibility and emerging survival signal offer new optimism in a landscape long defined by stagnation.
• University of Pennsylvania (Carl June, MD, Director of the PICI Center at Penn; Donald O’Rourke, MD): Phase 1 findings from a bivalent CAR T-cell therapy targeting EGFR and IL13Rα2 in recurrent glioblastoma. Delivered into the cerebroventricular space without lymphodepletion, the therapy led to tumor shrinkage in 85% of evaluable patients. Persistence of engineered T cells in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood for up to a year marks an encouraging step toward sustained response and long-term disease management. The findings support both the feasibility of direct CNS delivery and the immunologic potential of dual-target strategies.
• University of California, San Francisco + Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (Hideho Okada, MD, PhD, UCSF): Addressing the critical challenge of identifying effective immune targets in brain cancers like glioma, significant new research from the PICI Network on “public neoantigens” offers new avenues of attack. The SNIPP antigen discovery platform identified more than 700 glioma-specific, splice-derived neoantigens—new immunologic targets generated by RNA splicing errors. These antigens elicited CD8+ T-cell responses in vitro and many were conserved across tumors, opening the door to scalable, potentially off-the-shelf TCR-based therapies.

Together, these efforts exemplify what PICI’s model does best: support high-risk, high-reward science and drive it toward actionable results.

Across the Network: Where Discovery Meets Delivery

PICI-supported science appears across the ASCO agenda, tackling critical questions in melanoma, prostate, breast, lung and other high-burden cancers. These are not isolated programs—they’re connected by a framework that enables speed, coordination and clinical relevance.

Prostate Cancer –

• COMRADE Trial (Eliezer Van Allen, MD – Dana-Farber): Olaparib + radium-223 in mCRPC with bone metastases. (Abstract 5007)
• C3NIRA Trial (Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD – MD Anderson): Triplet chemo-IO induction followed by PARP ± PD-1 maintenance. (Abstract 5008)

Melanoma –

• DREAMseq Final Results (Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD – Weill Cornell; Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD – UCLA): Optimal sequencing in BRAFV600-mutant metastatic melanoma. (Abstract 9506)
• Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab (Alexander Huang, MD – UPenn): Stage IIB/C melanoma. (Abstract 9502)
• Quadruple IO + IL-6 Blockade (F. Stephen Hodi, MD – Dana-Farber): Ipi/Nivo/Rela + Sarilumab in advanced melanoma. (Abstract 9510)

Translational Platforms & Immunological Insight –

• INCIPIENT Trial (Marcela Maus, MD, PhD – MGH): CARv3-TEAM-E in recurrent GBM. (Abstract 2008)
• BRCA1/2 DNA Vaccines (Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil – UPenn): Plasmid DNA–based immunotherapy with/without IL12. (Abstract 10505)

Breast & Lung: Precision Strategies for Complex Cancers –

• NeoSTAR (Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD – Dana-Farber): Response-guided neoadjuvant sacituzumab govitecan + pembrolizumab in early TNBC. (Abstract 511)
• ADRIATIC Correlatives (David Barbie, MD – Dana-Farber): Genomic analysis of long-term responders in limited-stage SCLC post-chemoradiotherapy + durvalumab. (Abstract 8014)

These studies reflect a hallmark of the PICI approach: compressing the distance between new insight and patient impact—often turning early-stage ideas into clinical action within just a few years.

Looking Ahead: Where Strategy Meets Urgency

Wednesday, June 4 | 10:35 AM CDT | Endpoints Stage
PICI CEO Dr. Karen Knudsen joins Endpoints News to discuss PICI’s evolving model and the imperative to align research, policy and investment with the realities facing patients today. Expect a candid conversation about regulatory pace, PICI Network science, and what it takes to move from promising signals to real-world standards.

Follow the Progress
PICI’s ASCO 2025 presence isn’t about scale for its own sake—it’s about showing what’s possible when collaboration is engineered for speed, accountability and outcomes. From glioblastoma to melanoma to metastatic prostate cancer, the science we’re supporting is bold, rigorous and rapidly advancing toward clinical and commercial impact.

Follow along on social media at #PICIatASCO and #PICIAcceleratesCures