Editor's Note: The 2026 Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO), themed “Upholding Standards and Advancing Digital and Intelligent Innovation,” brought together leading oncology experts from China and abroad in Jinan. With China taking the lead and the global community participating, the meeting showcased the latest achievements and innovative momentum in Chinese clinical oncology. In an exclusive interview with Oncology Frontier, Professor Jinming Yu, President of CSCO and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, provided an in-depth interpretation of the theme's significance. He emphasized that adherence to standardized clinical practice is the foundation of high-quality development in cancer diagnosis and treatment in China, while digital and intelligent innovation serves as the core driver of further improvements in quality and care. From clarifying the innovative value of biosimilars to charting a path for Chinese innovative medicines to move beyond domestic substitution and compete globally, progress requires addressing current clinical needs while taking a long-term view of the development of oncology as a discipline.Standardization as the Foundation, Digital and Intelligent Innovation as the Driving Force
A Dual-Engine Approach to the High-Quality Development of Oncology in China
Oncology Frontier: This year’s CSCO Annual Meeting was themed “Upholding Standards and Advancing Digital and Intelligent Innovation.” What does this theme represent, and how has this academic gathering contributed to innovation and development in Chinese clinical oncology?
Academician Jinming Yu: “Upholding standards” and “innovation” are fundamental to the development of cancer diagnosis and treatment. They also represent the original rationale behind this year’s meeting theme.
Upholding standards is the foundation of high-quality development in cancer diagnosis and treatment in China. Over the years, CSCO has devoted considerable effort to establishing standardized clinical practice and continuously updating its clinical guidelines. These guidelines are tailored to cancer incidence patterns in the Chinese population, national medical insurance policies, and the realities of cancer care at the primary level. This approach has moved beyond simply adopting foreign standards and has helped implement standardized diagnosis and treatment across medical institutions at different levels, effectively narrowing regional disparities in care.
Upholding standards means remaining true to the original mission of medicine, adhering to the principles of evidence-based medicine, and maintaining standardized requirements for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Ultimately, it is about safeguarding patients’ fundamental rights and interests.
Digital and intelligent innovation, meanwhile, is a key driver of improving the quality and sophistication of cancer care in the new era. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, big data, and precision medicine are opening up new pathways for early cancer screening and more precise, individualized diagnosis and treatment. In my early career, I traveled to the United States to study advances in radiation oncology. Since returning to China, I have consistently advocated integrating technological innovation with clinical practice. Today, CSCO’s efforts to advance digital and intelligent innovation aim to overcome the limitations of traditional approaches by bringing emerging technologies—including AI-assisted diagnosis, big-data-based prognostic analysis, and precision cancer treatment—into routine clinical practice. In this way, innovation can strengthen and enhance standardized care.
This year’s meeting brought together numerous leading oncology experts from China and around the world. With China taking the lead and the global community participating, it provided an international platform for showcasing China’s innovations. The program also covered cutting-edge developments in translational medicine, pathological diagnosis, innovative drug development, artificial intelligence, and other fields, accelerating the exchange of ideas and the translation of research findings into practice.
The gathering of experts from diverse oncology specialties and disciplines in Jinan further promoted academic exchange and collaboration, supported the development of young physicians, and injected fresh momentum into the advancement of clinical oncology in China.
Biosimilars Are Not Low-End Generics
Rather, They Represent Further Innovation Built on the Foundation of Originator Biologics
Oncology Frontier: At this year’s CSCO Annual Meeting, several outstanding domestically developed innovative medicines achieved impressive results. Among them, pertuzumab N01 stood out as a biosimilar. However, members of the public and even some healthcare professionals often mistakenly equate biosimilars with “low-end generic drugs.” How should biosimilars be properly understood, and what forms of innovation do they embody?
Academician Jinming Yu: In fact, biosimilars and generic chemical drugs are two fundamentally different concepts. Developing a biosimilar is considerably more challenging than developing a generic chemical drug, and the two should not be treated as equivalent.
A biosimilar is a biological medicinal product that is highly similar in quality, safety, and efficacy to an already approved reference biologic. Biosimilars demonstrate a high degree of similarity to their reference products across multiple dimensions. Their development requires more sophisticated technology, longer development timelines, and greater investment. They are by no means “low-end generics”; rather, they represent further innovation built on the foundation established by the originator biologic.
From a development perspective, biosimilars must undergo preclinical and clinical studies to establish their similarity to the reference product in terms of molecular structure, biological function, efficacy, and safety.
Manufacturing also presents substantial challenges. Most biosimilars are produced through biological expression systems. Even for the same originator biologic, quality parameters may vary considerably across manufacturing sites and production batches. Consequently, developing and bringing each biosimilar into clinical use is a demanding undertaking.
In recent years, biosimilars such as pertuzumab N01 have increasingly entered clinical practice, delivering tangible benefits to many patients with cancer. I sincerely hope that more Chinese pharmaceutical companies will actively participate in innovative drug research and development, providing patients in China with a broader range of safe and effective treatment options and advancing the country’s efforts in cancer prevention and treatment to a new level.
Focusing on First-in-Class Innovation and Expanding the Global Reach of Clinical Guidelines
Key Priorities for Chinese Innovative Therapies to Move Toward Global Leadership
Oncology Frontier: Guided by the principle of “Upholding Standards and Advancing Digital and Intelligent Innovation,” Chinese clinical oncology is continuing its transition from keeping pace with international advances to becoming a global leader. Looking ahead, what further efforts are needed for Chinese innovative cancer medicines to move beyond domestic substitution and compete successfully in global markets?
Academician Jinming Yu: In recent years, China has made rapid progress in innovative oncology drugs and clinical research, becoming a major force in global cancer care and treatment development. In 2025, China approved 76 innovative drugs for marketing, setting a new record. Significant clinical research advances have also emerged in fields such as antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs), bispecific antibodies, and novel immunotherapies.
Looking ahead, achieving global leadership will require us to focus on developing truly innovative medicines based on new targets, novel mechanisms of action, and new technological platforms.
At this year’s CSCO Annual Meeting, we also organized a dedicated ASCO–ESMO–CSCO session. One of its aims was to deepen collaboration with leading international oncology organizations and create opportunities for Chinese research, evidence, and clinical guidelines to reach the global stage.
In the past, we often relied on guidelines such as those issued by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) when introducing innovative medicines originally developed overseas. Today, we are working to build on that foundation by continuously improving China’s own clinical guideline system and expanding its international influence. By bringing Chinese guidelines to the global stage alongside Chinese innovative medicines, we can strengthen the international competitiveness of our pharmaceutical industry.
I believe that, in the not-too-distant future, as the internationalization of Chinese clinical guidelines advances and the innovation capabilities of Chinese pharmaceutical companies continue to improve, China’s innovative medicines will make the historic transition from domestic substitution to global competition, making medicines developed in China a prominent symbol of the country’s scientific and technological achievements.
Academician Jinming Yu
