Latest science and stakeholder exchanges at ESMO 2026

From October 23 to 27, oncologists, researchers and patient advocates from around the world met in Madrid for the ESMO Congress 2026. We were there to make sure the voices of people affected by bladder cancer were part of the conversation.

Over the four days, our CEO Alex Filicevas, President Lori Funk  and VP Michelle Colero engaged with stakeholders, uro oncolgists as well as fellow cancer patient advocates as well as our industry partners. These conversations help us to continue exchanges, find opportunities to collaborate by sharing the coalition’s priorities. The team also followed the latest developments in bladder cancer research. Every conversation like this helps make sure new science reaches the patients, survivors and carers it is meant for.

Putting the patient voice at the heart of clinical trials

On October 24, Alex also opened an Patient Engagement Forum 2026, an evening event hosted by MSD in collaboration with WECAN alongside the congress. Speaking as Chair of the WECAN Foundation, the network of more than 20 European umbrella cancer patient organisations of which WBCPC is a member, he joined patient advocacy and industry leaders to discuss the importance of the patient perspective across clinical trial design and delivery.

Alex presented EuroACT, the European Atlas on Clinical Trials in Cancer and Haematology, launched by WECAN. EuroACT maps 24,797 clinical trials across 53 European countries to identify the use and reporting of Patient Reported Outcome Measures in clinical trials in Europe. It shows that where people live still shapes their chance of joining a trial, with 87% of trial sites in wealthier European countries. The 643 clinical trials in bladder cancer remains one of the lowest amongst the solid tumours.

It also shows how often the patient experience is left out. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), the questionnaires that capture how people feel and function during treatment, are missing from most trials and rarely reported even when collected. For people affected by bladder cancer, where living well after treatment matters as much as survival, what a trial measures and publishes is never a detail – its critical data.

EuroACT analysis on solid tumours has been accepted by peer-review for publication: Geographic Inequities in Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Clinical Trials of Selected Solid Tumours in Europe: Findings from EuroACT

Patient advocates are partners

This year, patient advocates attending ESMO were excluded from the access to the congress exhibition area. As a result cancer patient advocates have stage a peaceful demonstration and WECAN has published a public statement Patient advocates are partners, not an audience. It explains why these professional exchanges matter for patients and calls on medical societies, industry and regulators to agree consistent European principles before the next congress.

As a member of WECAN, which our CEO Alex Chairs, we look forward to working with all partners on a shared solution, so that patients, survivors and carers stay in the room where research is discussed.

Explore the EuroACT Dashboard to see the clinical trial landscape in your country, and read WECAN’s statement in full.