The communication strategies behind the ASCO headlines

I enjoy this time of year. When I turn on the radio in the morning, I’ll often hear a good news story regarding the potential of a new oncology treatment. Instead of the typical doom-scrolling, my timeline fills up with words like "milestone," "historic," and "game-changer."

All thanks to the latest data being published at the ASCO Annual Meeting.  

Headline-grabbing breakthroughs

At this year’s conference we saw results that gave the general public something to be truly hopeful about:

• The Pancreatic Cancer Milestone: The RASolute 302 trial for a new targeted drug called daraxonrasib dominated global front pages. Pancreatic cancer has historically carried a devastating narrative, so when a drug slashes the risk of death by 60%¹, it breaks and becomes a massive beacon of hope.
• The "Postage Stamp" Radiation Implant: Instead of a complex description of localized brachytherapy, the media fell in love with GammaTile (the ROADS trial) - a tiny, collagen tile embedded with radiation seeds dropped directly into a brain tumor cavity during surgery to target remaining cancer cells².
• The Unexpected Candidate: The internet seized on data showing how GLP-1 medications (like Ozempic) may play a role in mitigating the risk of cancer onset³ and progression⁴.

How did they break through the noise?

What was it about these particular studies that made them good candidates to break into mainstream news? And what techniques did journalists use to make sure the message landed? We've done our best to break them down for you, so you can use try using the same strategies yourself.

1. Relevance

Let’s start with the most practical factor; mainstream media prioritizes stories that affect the largest number of people. Lung, breast, and prostate cancers are among the most common diagnoses worldwide.

• Almost every reader or viewer has a family member, friend, or colleague who has been touched by one of these diseases. I count myself in that bracket. 
• A breakthrough in a rare, niche sub-type of cancer is scientifically brilliant, but a headline promising to "halve the risk" of advanced prostate cancer progression⁵ hits home for millions of families globally.

2. Metaphor

I’ve written about this before. Science reporters are always looking for ways to explain complex topics without losing readers or viewers. The treatments that went viral this year handed journalists the perfect visual metaphors on a silver platter:

• The "Postage Stamp" Implant: Instead of explaining “bioabsorbable collagen tile brachytherapy,” the media could picture - and explain - a tiny, postage-stamp-sized square that a surgeon simply drops into the brain to do the heavy lifting. It’s an elegant, easy-to-understand image.
• "Smart Bombs" and "Heat-Seeking Missiles": Describing antibody-drug conjugates as guided missiles⁶ that bypass healthy cells and only explode inside the tumor makes a complicated cellular mechanism instantly clear and exciting to a layperson.

3. Clarity

Once the mechanism has been explained by a compelling metaphor, it’s time to follow-up with the “so what?”. Mainstream editors shy away from nuanced data in favour of key, definitive metrics explained with minimal jargon. If a headline can state that “daily pill double survival time” there is a clear benefit to get excited about.

• The data coming out of trials like TALAPRO-3 (a 52% reduction in risk)⁵ and the ROADS trial (doubling the median overall survival)² provided definitive, black-and-white numbers.
• When the data are clear, it is easy to see that this is a big change.

4. Emotive

Chemotherapy is a well known term amongst the general public that is laden with negative connotations. To the general public, the fear of cancer is deeply tied to the fear of standard chemotherapy - hair loss, intense nausea, and severe exhaustion.

• Any study that promises a "chemo-free" alternative, like the targeted daily pill sunvozertinib for lung cancer⁷, is an automatic headline-maker.
• It shifts the narrative from "surviving cancer" to "living a normal life while treating cancer," which gives us reason to be slightly less fearful.

From ASCO to Fusion Animation

We love geeking out on which stories cut through, why and how, because we frequently employ similar thinking when working on a medical animation - especially at the script stage.

We are essentially trying to replicate the exact same magic that a brilliant science reporter achieves during ASCO. We are taking dense, high-stakes medical reality and translating it into something that lands with emotional and cognitive precision.

Elements we recognise from this year’s ASCO reporting that we apply to every project; 

• Bringing Metaphors to Life: We have the luxury of bringing visual metaphors to life with animation to deliver the story (watch this example linking Rheumatoid Arthritis and forest fires). 
• Rigorously Stripping Away the Noise: We rigorously strip out anything that doesn’t need to appear on screen or in the voice over. Clarity is always our priority.
• Humanising the Science: We often feature a patient's perspective so that the viewer never loses sight of the real-world impact these discoveries have.

Ultimately, science is sometimes only as powerful as our ability to share it. Whether it's a blockbuster plenary session in a Chicago convention hall or a beautifully crafted animation on a viewer's screen, the goal remains the exact same: to turn complex data into a human story of progress.

If you’re looking for ways to create a stand-out narrative for your oncology product, please do get in touch. 

References

1. Wolpin, B. M., et al. (2026). Oral multi-selective RAS(ON) inhibitor daraxonrasib versus chemotherapy as second-line therapy for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer: Results from the randomized phase 3 RASolute 302 trial. The New England Journal of Medicine, 394(22), 2102–2114. Retrieved from The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Plenary Archives‍
2. Weinberg, J., Beckham, T. H., et al. (2026). Implanted tile-based radiation versus stereotactic radiotherapy for treatment of newly diagnosed operable brain metastases: Primary results from the randomized phase 3 ROADS trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 44(18_suppl), LBA2001. Retrieved via The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).‍
3. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/02/weight-loss-drugs-cut-cancer-risk-studies‍
4. Orland, M. D., et al. (2026). Can GLP-1 receptor agonists mitigate cancer progression? A propensity-matched analysis across seven solid tumors. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 44(16_suppl), Abstract 3143. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2026.44.16_suppl.3143‍
5. Agarwal, N., Mateo, J., et al. (2026). Talazoparib plus enzalutamide versus placebo plus enzalutamide for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC) harboring homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene alterations: The phase 3 TALAPRO-3 trial. The New England Journal of Medicine, 394(23), 2219–2231. Monitored via ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04821622).‍
6. https://www.gustaveroussy.fr/en/asco-2026-antibody-drug-conjugate-shows-promising-signs-efficacy-advanced-cervical-cancer#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20however%2C%20a%20highly%20promising,and%20bind%20to%20a%20protein%20expressed%20on.
7. Zhou, C., Heymach, J., et al.; WU-KONG28 Investigators. (2026). First-line sunvozertinib versus platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations: A randomized, phase 3 trial. The New England Journal of Medicine, 394(21), 1985–1996. Retrievable via The New England Journal of Medicine.