This week in Madrid, Sydney researchers showcased cancer innovation, with leading clinical trial results and promising new developments presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2026. 

World-first personalised therapeutic cancer vaccine cuts risk of melanoma recurrence by 42 percent

On 24 October Professor Georgina Long AO, Chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, and Medical Director of the Melanoma Institute of Australia, presented results from a world-first international melanoma vaccine trial showing a 42 percent reduction in the risk of recurrence or death.

The trial investigated the addition of a personalised therapeutic cancer vaccine, made from each patient’s own tumour to immunotherapy following surgery for high-risk melanoma.

Australia has one of the highest melanoma rates in the world, with one person diagnosed every 30 minutes. Research led by Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) has transformed treatment, with nearly 55 percent of patients with advanced melanoma now effectively cured.

Professor Long, Global Principal Investigator of the trial and Chair of the Trial Steering Committee, said: “These findings are a foundational shift in our approach to cancer: harnessing the immune system in a more personalised way to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death.”

“This has not been achieved before in the history of cancer drug development. It is the coming together of technology, our biological understanding of cancer and the immune system, and the courage to take this idea into the clinic.

“Having succeeded in melanoma, this proof of concept could mark the beginning of a foundational shift in how we treat cancer, helping patients remain cancer-free for longer.”

Read the full story here.

New treatment prevents relapse of very high-risk local and locally advanced prostate cancer

Each year almost 29,000 Australians are diagnosed with prostate cancer, with nearly 11,000 people – or 38 percent – developing high-risk, very-high-risk, or advanced disease. Those with very high-risk localised or locally advanced prostate cancer remain at risk of their cancer returning or spreading despite current treatment approaches.

A trial sponsored by the University of Sydney, and jointly led by the Sydney Clinical Trials Centre and the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group (ANZUP), with support from Bayer, presented interim findings at ESMO, showing that adding darolutamide (Nubeqa®), an oral androgen receptor inhibitor used to treat advanced prostate cancer, to standard care for this population, decreases the risk of spread of prostate cancer in people affected with very high-risk localised or locally advanced prostate cancer.

“Adding darolutamide reduced the risk of the cancer spreading within four years from 11 percent to five percent,” said lead investigator and Oncology Director Professor Martin Stockler at the Sydney Clinical Trials Centre.  

“This offers realistic hope of improved cure rates for thousands who will face this situation in coming years.”

Combining a highly targeted form of radiation therapy with chemotherapy may help keep high-risk pancreatic cancer under control for longer

Collaboratively led by the Sydney Clinical Trials Centre, GI Cancer Trials and the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group, the MASTERPLAN trial found that pancreatic cancer stayed under control for longer, with patients who received radiation alongside chemotherapy living for a median of 11.9 months before their cancer progressed or returned, compared with 6.3 months for those receiving chemotherapy alone.  
 
Survival was longer for those in the radiation group, with median overall survival at 22 months, compared with 14 months for chemotherapy alone, paving the way for a larger study to confirm the benefit.

Published in The Lancet Oncology and presented at ESMO, the Phase II results mark the first published prospective randomised trial showing benefit from stereotactic body radiotherapy in high-risk, localised pancreatic cancer. Stereotactic body radiotherapy is a minimally invasive radiation treatment that delivers extremely precise, high-dose radiation beams to small tumours.  

Professor Katrin Sjoquist, medical oncologist and lead of the Gastro-Intestinal Clinical Trials at the Sydney Clinical Trials Centre said: "The MASTERPLAN study provides important new evidence about the safety and potential benefits of combining advanced radiotherapy with chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer that is difficult to remove with surgery.

“This achievement was only possible through outstanding multidisciplinary teamwork, innovation and a shared commitment to better outcomes for patients and their families." 

Largest randomised clinical trial provides new insights into biliary tract cancer – a rare cancer with a high recurrence rate 

Biliary tract cancer – or cancer of the bile duct – is a rare and aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis. New results from ACTICCA-1, the largest randomised phase III clinical trial investigating adjuvant treatment options for biliary tract cancer to date, were presented at ESMO. The results provide valuable insights into this rare and aggressive cancer, with findings that could inform the development of improved treatments. 

Coordinated in Australia and New Zealand by the Sydney Clinical Trials Centre, the trial compared the combination two types of chemotherapy, gemcitabine and cisplatin (CisGem) with the current standard-of-care treatment, capecitabine, to evaluate which could better prolong the period after treatment during which patients show no signs of cancer returning. 

Patients receiving CisGem had an additional 2.6 months of disease-free survival on average and a marginal improvement in overall survival. CisGem was also associated with increased toxicity, with more serious adverse events reported compared with capecitabine. 

The findings provide important evidence on the role of CisGem as an adjuvant treatment, highlighting the need to carefully balance any potential survival benefit against increased treatment-related toxicity. 

“There’s an urgent need for better treatments to reduce the high recurrence rate for people with biliary tract cancer. ACTICCA-1 provides important data for this rare cancer that has long had poor prognosis,” said medical oncologist Dr Jenny Shannon, Australian Study Chair of the international trial, and honorary affiliate at the University of Sydney at the time of the study.