Editor's Note: The 13th International Conference of the Federation of Asian Clinical Oncology (FACO 2025) will be grandly held in Shanghai from October 24 to 25, 2025. The conference is jointly organized by the Federation of Asian Clinical Oncology (FACO), the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO), the Beijing CSCO Clinical Oncology Research Foundation, and the Eastern Clinical Oncology Research Center (ECCO). The theme is "Asian Clinical Oncology – Cooperation and Innovation," aiming to promote collaboration in drug research and new drug development, combine surgical and/or radiotherapy methods to jointly explore more efficient treatment options, and enhance the overall standards and effectiveness of cancer treatment. FACO was jointly initiated and established in February 2012 by CSCO, the Japanese Society of Clinical Oncology (JSCO), and the Korean Society of Medical Oncology (KSMO) with the goal of promoting the development of clinical oncology in China, Japan, South Korea, and the Asia-Pacific region. Since its establishment, it has carried out much fruitful work. With the FACO Conference approaching, Oncology Frontier specially invited Professor Li Jin from Shanghai Gaobo Cancer Hospital affiliated with China Pharmaceutical University, the current Chairman of FACO and the Chinese Chairman of the Conference, to introduce the overall agenda and highlights of this FACO Conference, review the work FACO has conducted for clinical oncology exchange and the training of young clinicians in China, Japan, and South Korea, and share the future development direction of FACO and Chinese clinical oncology, as well as goals for China-foreign exchange.
Part 1 Focusing on High-Incidence Asian Cancers, FACO’s Mission is to Promote Clinical Oncology Collaboration
Oncology Frontier: The theme of this FACO Conference is “Asian Clinical Oncology – Cooperation and Innovation.” Guided by this theme, the conference features a main session and four specialized sessions covering Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer, Gastrointestinal Tumors, and Hepatopancreatobiliary cancers. As the Chairman of the Conference, which topics and academic presentations in each session do you believe are highlights that deserve our close attention?
Professor Li Jin: I would first like to thank Oncology Frontier for the interview, and I thank your publication for its years of strong support for CSCO and the upcoming FACO Conference. I believe that all four specialized sessions at this FACO Conference deserve close attention, because whether they are gastrointestinal tumors, breast cancer, lung cancer, or Hepatopancreatobiliary cancers, they are all high-incidence cancer types in Asia that require us to dedicate more effort and commitment to helping a large number of patients. This includes cancer types such as esophageal cancer and liver cancer, where the number of new cases in China ranks first globally. The combined incidence of these cancers may account for 70-80% of all malignant tumors. Such a large number of patients needing help from oncologists means that clinicians need to communicate with each other, exchanging academic ideas to learn about the latest research data and clinical research progress.
Among the four specialized sessions, I personally believe that the most important is lung cancer, which is currently the world’s number one malignant tumor, with an annual incidence exceeding one million cases. This is followed by colorectal cancer and gastric cancer, which are highly prevalent in China. Although the incidence of gastric cancer in China has declined in recent years, it still accounts for nearly 40% of the global incidence. Similarly, breast cancer, as the number one malignant tumor among women, also deserves close attention.
We have set up very cutting-edge academic topics at this FACO Conference, and we hope that participating experts can gain more from the conference, improve their ability to serve patients through academic exchange, and strengthen cooperation with countries such as Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, in order to conduct more clinical research within the Asian region, accelerate new drug development, and more effectively help Asian cancer patients.
Part 2 Focusing on the Growth of Young Talents, Providing More Platforms and Opportunities for China-Foreign Exchange
Oncology Frontier: Young talents are the future drivers of disciplinary development. What foundations or support programs has FACO established for nurturing young scholars? What results have been achieved so far? Many young and middle-aged Chinese physicians will also present oral reports at this conference. How do you think they should be better encouraged to participate in international conferences and academic exchanges?
Professor Li Jin: In any era, young people are always our future. As the saying goes, “The waves behind drive the waves ahead.” The older generation steps down, and the new generation must follow. Their contributions and achievements may surpass those of the older generation, so for society to develop, we must first focus on the future and development of young people. CSCO has consistently upheld this philosophy over the past few decades. From Professor Ma Jun, Professor Qin Shukui, and Professor Wu Yilong to the current (President of the Council) Professor Yu Jinming, all have placed great importance on cultivating young talent. Every year, the CSCO Foundation sponsors 200-250 young experts to attend the CSCO Annual Meeting, providing free accommodation, food, and travel, giving them more opportunities to learn more knowledge on this platform and exchange ideas with older generation experts.
For this FACO Conference, we have also specially arranged for more young physicians to attend. Among the total of three to four hundred participating experts, over 100 are foreign experts, and half of the remaining domestic experts are under 40-50 years old. This age structure reflects FACO’s concern for young physicians, hoping that young physicians can grow quickly and providing them with a platform for China-foreign exchange and cooperation, offering more opportunities to conduct collaborative research in the future.
Furthermore, we hope to provide more exchange opportunities for young experts in the future. For example, the CSCO Foundation annually invites a portion of young experts, mainly members of the Young Expert Committee, to attend FACO meetings held concurrently with the JSCO/KSMO congresses in Japan and South Korea, as well as the ESMO Asia Congress held in Singapore. Middle-aged and young experts like Professor Zhang Xiaotian and Professor Chen Gong have participated in China-foreign exchanges many times. I led about 30 Chinese experts to attend the China-Japan Joint Meeting held during the JSCO Annual Meeting (Editor’s Note: held from October 16-18). At the meeting, Chinese and Japanese experts gave academic presentations, and five experts from each side were selected for a special discussion. We hope to use this to strengthen exchanges between Chinese and Japanese scholars, learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and we will continue to conduct similar exchanges in the future.
Oncology Frontier: We can also feel your dedication to young and middle-aged experts through your words.
Professor Li Jin: Because I, too, came up through my youth. When I returned to China from the United States, it was senior figures like Professor Sun Yan, Professor Chu Datong, Professor Guan Zhongzhen, and Professor Liao Meilin who guided us in learning how to conduct clinical trials. Later, my two “older brothers”, Professor Qin Shukui and Professor Ma Jun, also gave me a lot of care and help in many aspects. Now that we are getting older, we must pass the torch to the next generation of younger experts. To enable them to better take the relay, we must now provide opportunities, cultivating stronger capabilities in them so they can make greater contributions than we did. This is the responsibility of our generation.
Part 3 Helping More Domestic Innovative Drugs “Go Global” to Meet the Needs of the Large Cancer Patient Population
Oncology Frontier: As the current Chairman of FACO, what plans do you have for FACO’s future development direction? Specifically, from which perspectives will you further promote clinical oncology academic exchange and cooperation across Asia and globally?
Professor Li Jin: FACO, the Federation of Asian Clinical Oncology, was initially an alliance organized by three major societies in our country: CSCO, Japan’s JSCO, and South Korea’s KSMO. It was founded under the leadership of the former CSCO President of the Council (Editor’s Note: Professor Qin Shukui), Professor Masahiko Nishiyama (former JSCO Chairman), and experts from South Korea. Later, I took the torch from Professor Qin Shukui. FACO aims to promote joint clinical research among experts from China, Japan, and South Korea. Over the past decade, 7-8 clinical studies have been completed, and multiple research results have been published internationally. For instance, the gastric cancer clinical study led by Professor Ji Jiafu received strong support from FACO, with Japanese and Korean experts contributing a significant number of enrolled patients, making FACO an important platform for China-Japan-South Korea clinical oncology cooperation.
This year, the current CSCO President of the Council, Professor Yu Jinming, who represents CSCO on the FACO Board, also proposed that CSCO will continue to strongly support FACO in the future and dedicate more effort to conducting China-Japan-South Korea collaborative clinical research. Over the past ten years, along with China’s economic development, the number and quality of our clinical studies have significantly improved. All clinical studies and products from our country’s biopharmaceutical companies have also received high international attention, so Japanese and Korean experts now have great enthusiasm for participating in our clinical research.
When I traveled to participate in the JSCO Annual Meeting this time, I also discussed with Japanese experts how to simultaneously launch clinical research initiated by our biopharmaceutical companies in Japan. If the Japanese drug regulatory authority approves the clinical research data and grants marketing authorization for a drug, that drug can be approved for marketing in eight countries, including Japan, South Korea, Russia, Malaysia, and Indonesia, which will help meet the urgent needs of the vast patient population.
In the future, we can also use the FACO platform to conduct post-marketing clinical research, such as studies of drugs developed by Chinese companies after their launch in Japan and South Korea, and we can also conduct China-Japan-South Korea joint investigator-initiated trials (IITs). Examples include ADCs such as Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, and FGFR ADCs developed by Japanese companies. We can study the expansion of indications after the drug is launched, vigorously promoting clinical research across the Asian region. Our country, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, China, can all participate, and we also welcome the participation of Taiwan, China, as well as countries like India and Russia.
Currently, our country’s international influence is growing, so I believe we have reached a critical turning point: in the past, we often talked about “going out and inviting in,” but it was more about inviting in than going out because our capabilities were insufficient, our economic foundation was weak, and our biopharmaceutical companies were smaller. Today, the situation is completely different. We need to transition from purely inviting in to simultaneously going out while inviting in, and even more so, going out in the future to let the drugs developed by our enterprises reach the international stage. The first step, of course, is to go to Asia. As the Co-Chairman of FACO, I will lead FACO to dedicate more energy in the future to conducting investigator-initiated trials, helping pharmaceutical companies expand the scope of drug indications, collecting more information that facilitates companies in conducting registrational clinical trials, and collaborating with Japanese and Korean experts through the FACO platform to conduct multi-center, prospective registrational clinical trials. This will not only be important work for FACO in the future but also for CSCO, and for this, we hope for greater support from all sectors.
