Category: 3. Business

The second half of 2025 will feature a series of important oncology meetings where new clinical data will be presented across tumor types. From hematologic malignancies to solid tumors, these conferences will provide updates that may influence treatment guidelines, inform evolving standards of care, and guide future research directions. For clinicians, researchers, and industry leaders, they offer opportunities to engage with emerging science and assess its impact on clinical practice.

Below are the key oncology conferences to watch in quarter 3 and quarter 4 of 2025.

Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO)

Dates: September 3 to 6, 2025
Location: George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas

The SOHO Annual Meeting continues to serve as a leading forum for hematologic oncology specialists. SOHO 2025 is expected to draw more than 3,800 participants for a 3.5-day program featuring sessions ranging from plenary lectures to interactive discussions. Centered on the theme “Unleashing AI, Genomics, Targets, and Immune Engineering,” the meeting will provide updates on leukemias, lymphomas, myeloma, myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative neoplasms, and cellular therapies.

IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer

Dates: September 6 to 9, 2025
Location: Barcelona, Spain

The IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer remains the premier global meeting dedicated to thoracic malignancies. In 2025, Barcelona will host thousands of oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, and scientists to discuss advances in lung cancer biology, diagnostics, and therapeutics. The program will feature world-renowned speakers, discussants, and panelists who will deliver insights into practice-changing therapies and evolving standards of care. Attendees can expect cutting-edge updates spanning lung cancer biology, diagnostics, and therapeutics, with key highlights anticipated in targeted therapy resistance mechanisms, next-generation immunotherapies, and the integration of molecular diagnostics in early-stage disease management.

International Myeloma Society (IMS) Annual Meeting

Dates: September 17 to 20, 2025
Location: Toronto, Canada

IMS 2025 will bring together the international myeloma research community to share cutting-edge advances in disease biology, translational research, and clinical care. This year’s meeting will feature thematic sessions on precursor disease, risk-adapted management, immunotherapy, and relapse within 1 to 3 lines of therapy, alongside keynote lectures, meet-the-expert discussions, and joint sessions with regulatory agencies. The program will also highlight oral abstracts, poster presentations, and symposia led by key opinion leaders. Scientific highlights are expected in CAR T-cell therapies, bispecific antibodies, next-generation immunotherapies, and updates on minimal residual disease assessment, risk stratification, and strategies for relapsed/refractory disease.

American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting

Dates: September 27 to October 1, 2025
Location: San Francisco, California

The ASTRO Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of radiation oncologists worldwide and a cornerstone of the oncology conference calendar. The 67th annual meeting will be held in San Francisco with the theme “Rediscovering Radiation Medicine and Exploring New Indications.” Attendees will hear from experts, including ASTRO president Sameer Keole, MD, FASTRO, on the future of the field and updates shaping clinical practice. Program highlights will feature advances in precision radiation delivery, artificial intelligence integration, and the expanding role of radiation therapy in combination with systemic treatments.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies

Dates: October 10 to 11, 2025
Location: San Diego, California

The NCCN Annual Congress on Hematologic Malignancies is known for its practice-focused approach, offering guideline-based updates that clinicians can immediately apply in their clinics. The 2025 program will review evolving strategies for lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma, with faculty emphasizing the latest NCCN Guideline changes, clinical controversies, and case-based learning.

ESMO Congress

Dates: October 17 to 21, 2025
Location: Berlin, Germany

The ESMO Congress is among the largest and most influential global oncology meetings on the calendar. This year’s congress in Berlin is expected to set the stage for new standards in solid tumor management. The program will highlight practice-changing data, foster multidisciplinary debate, and stimulate exchange in translational science. Learning objectives include updates on prevention, screening, early diagnosis, and breakthroughs across basic, translational, and clinical research. Attendees can expect late-breaking trials, presidential symposia, and key insights in immuno-oncology, targeted therapies, and tumor-agnostic approaches, alongside critical discussions on access, equity, and sustainability in global cancer care.

Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting

Dates: November 5 to 9, 2025
Location: National Harbor, Maryland

SITC will celebrate its 40th annual meeting in 2025, marking the largest global gathering dedicated to cancer immunotherapy. The event will unite leaders from academia, government, regulatory agencies, and industry for unparalleled education, networking, and scientific exchange. Program highlights will include the latest developments on cellular therapies, and innovative combination regimens, along with early-phase data across tumor types. SITC 2025 will also focus on biomarker development, resistance mechanisms, and strategies to expand access to immunotherapy across tumor types.

Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting

Dates: November 19 to 23, 2025
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

The SNO Annual Meeting serves as the leading multidisciplinary forum for advances in neuro-oncology, bringing together neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, radiation oncologists, and basic scientists. The 2025 meeting in Honolulu will highlight novel strategies for gliomas, brain metastases, and rare central nervous system tumors, as well as innovations in imaging and biomarkers. SNO 2025 will also emphasize the value of translational research aimed at improving outcomes in central nervous system malignancies, an area of critical unmet need.

67th ASH Annual Meeting

Dates: December 6 to 9, 2025
Location: Orlando, Florida

The ASH Annual Meeting is the premier global event in classical and malignant hematology, drawing more than 30,000 attendees, 5,000 abstracts, and 275 exhibitors each year. In 2025, the meeting will convene in Orlando to showcase advances in leukemias, lymphomas, myeloma, coagulation disorders, and gene therapy.

48th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS)

Dates: December 9 to 12, 2025
Location: San Antonio, Texas

SABCS will mark its 48th year in 2025, bringing more than 10,000 attendees from 102 countries and nearly 2,000 abstracts together over 4 days. The program will feature expert lectures, slide and poster presentations, and case-based forums covering the latest advances in breast cancer. Key updates are expected in endocrine therapy, HER2-targeted agents, antibody-drug conjugates, and triple-negative breast cancer.

In Tempe, Arizona, Culdesac is reimagining US cities for people, not cars – and inviting travellers to explore its plazas, paseos and Mediterranean-inspired design.

When Sheryl Murdock walks to her apartment in Culdesac – the US’ first modern car-free neighbourhood built from scratch – she feels transported to a Mediterranean island. As she enters the central plaza, which serves as an al fresco communal living room, the blare of traffic fades, replaced by the clink of glasses, the hum of conversation and the thump of a cornhole game. She meanders down narrow pathways between low-slung white buildings crisscrossed with fairy lights, passing pops of colour from cheerful murals and magenta bougainvillea. Although she’s in Arizona, Murdock says, “It’s like being in Greece.”

Architect Daniel Parolek did have the Mediterranean in mind when he designed Culdesac, though he was influenced more by his travels to the hill towns and coastal villages of Italy and France. Travellers and locals love these settings, Parolek says, because “these are places that were built prior to the automobile, so they were designed around accommodating people”. Why then, he asks, do people have to vacation to places like these rather than living in them?

The answer is that societies made a Faustian deal with the automobile. As urban planners calibrated the built environment to the needs of cars rather than people, cities spread out into vast systems of traffic-clogged asphalt that disgorge solo commuters into soul-crushingly monotonous suburbs. Car-centric design has contributed to making metropolises more polluted, more socially isolating, less sustainable and hot as hell.

But the collective consciousness is shifting. Research is revealing that walkable cities make people happier, less lonely, more satisfied with life and physically healthier. Movements are afoot around the globe toward sustainable urbanism, slow travel and 15-minute (or less) cities – such as Nordhavn in Copenhagen and superblocks in Barcelona. For travellers, strolling around Culdesac’s shops, restaurants and outdoor markets offers a glimpse into a future where cities are once again built for people, not traffic.

The newly launched Aeolus L8 EV sets a benchmark in long-range travel with an impressive 2,245 km driving range. It can cover the entire Karachi–Islamabad route nonstop, redefining hybrid SUV performance.

Chinese automaker Dongfeng has unveiled the Aeolus L8, a plug-in hybrid SUV equipped with a 1.5L turbo engine, an electric motor, and a 30.3 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, producing 355 horsepower. In independent testing by the China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC), the L8 achieved an all-electric range of 248 km and a total driving range of 2,245 km, enough to cover the Karachi–Islamabad route without refueling . CATARC also confirmed its fast charging claim, with the battery charging from 20% to 80% in just 18 minutes under optimal conditions.

Aeolus L8 Key Specifications

Feature	Details
Powertrain	1.5L turbo + electric motor
Battery	30.3 kWh LFP
Output	355 HP
EV Range (Official)	126–185 km
EV Range (CATARC)	248 km
Total Range	2,245 km
Fuel Efficiency	~41.7 km/l
Fast Charging	20–80% in ~18 minutes
ADAS	28 functions
Safety	Six airbags, digital rearview mirror
Interior	Digital cockpit with AI assistant

Based on the price of similar Chinese SUVs in Pakistan such as Haval Jolion (PKR 8–9.3m), Changan Oshan X7 (PKR 8–8.6m), and Series 3 EV (PKR 10.7m)  the Aeolus L8 is expected to be priced around PKR 8–11 million if launched locally.

Currently, no SUV in Pakistan offers a range comparable to the L8. The closest rival is the Haval H6 PHEV, which promises just over 1,000 km range, making the Aeolus L8 a potential game-changer for long-distance travel.

Ministers have lined up special managers to run Liberty Steel’s South Yorkshire operations if they are put into administration, according to a dramatic revelation at London’s high court.

The development shows the government is ready to step in immediately to secure the continued operations of the Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), which employs 1,450 people at the group’s operations at an electric arc furnace in Rotherham and another plant in Stocksbridge, both in South Yorkshire.

Creditors to SSUK are seeking a compulsory winding up order, the high court heard on Wednesday. The company asked to adjourn the hearing to buy time to try to agree a “pre-pack” administration that would allow its owner, the metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, to keep control of the insolvent company.

Counsel representing the creditors showed the judge a letter from the Department for Business and Trade detailing that the government had said its official receiver was ready to carry out a sales process if the company entered administration.

The insolvency and companies court judge Sally Barber said she was minded to give two weeks of extra time to decide what the consequences of each course would be.

However, after a short pause, the creditors’ counsel then disclosed that lawyers for the government were present in the court. The barrister said he had just been informed that an application for the appointment of a special manager to carry out the administration had already been prepared in draft form.

The court is expected to grant a short adjournment to give the parties time to provide evidence to the court of what will happen in either case.

Judge Barber said: “In the absence of some certainty there is too much at stake for the court to shoot blind.

“Any government decision would be subject to a formal ministerial decision, and no such decision has been made.”

Gupta has been scrambling to find new financing for his businesses since the collapse in 2021 of Greensill Capital, which had lent the Gupta Family Group (GFG) Alliance about $4.5bn (£3.3bn). Administrators for Greensill are trying to recover that money on behalf of creditors, including the investment bank Citibank.

The winding up petition was originally brought by an equipment supplier in October but SSUK had been granted several adjournments to give it more time to pursue negotiations for new investment, and then after it paid the debt to the lead claimant. The Greensill administrators stepped into the supplier’s place.

Fundraising efforts have been complicated by an investigation into GFG Alliance by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office for suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering.

At the same time, the steel industry has been hit by the turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic, followed by a glut of metal produced by Chinese companies.

skip past newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

SSUK usually supplies aerospace and defence companies such as Rolls-Royce and Airbus. However, workers in South Yorkshire have dealt with years of uncertainty, as work at the plants has wound down. SSUK lost £340m in four years, according to figures revealed during the court process.

The Rotherham plant and a similar operation in Motherwell, Scotland, have not produced any steel for about a year because of a lack of working capital to buy materials. However, workers’ salaries have continued to be paid.

The Guardian last month revealed that the UK government was considering options to step in should SSUK fall into liquidation. It would be the second government intervention in the steel industry this year, after it took control of British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, fearing that its Chinese owners would let the blast furnaces cool beyond repair.

Gupta had hoped to prepare a plan to buy the company back out of insolvency, with the consultancy Begbies Traynor preparing a pre-pack administration that would allow the company to reduce its debts. The creditors opposed the plan, arguing they would prefer a sale via a government-controlled liquidation.

Court documents suggested that previous efforts in 2022 to sell part of the SSUK operations to an unnamed venture capital fund or a “Chinese conglomerate” came to nothing.

Unilever Pakistan Foods reported a strong rise in sales during the first half of 2025. Net revenue reached Rs 19.59 billion, which is an increase of about 15.2 percent year on year. The company said higher volume and selective pricing supported top-line growth. Profit after tax for the six months ended June 30 stood at Rs 3.09 billion, down from Rs 3.80 billion in the prior year.

The gap between revenue and profit reflected cost and tax pressures. Cost of sales rose faster than revenue and reached Rs 12.06 billion. Other income fell sharply, which reduced non non-operating cushioning. Finance cost increased due to certain financing flows, and taxation rose sharply, which together pressed net earnings.

What this means for consumers and investors

The firm retained gross margin gains but showed tighter net margins. Management paid a cash dividend, which will interest many shareholders. Investors will watch pricing actions and cost control measures in the months ahead. Traders will also monitor because of their impact on output changes in the prices of factors of production, and the taxes until the end of the year.

Unilever Pakistan should maintain equilibrium regarding the brand investment and margin security. The first half picture will indicate a strong demand, but increased overhead and tax expenses. The company will have to stabilize execution in order to revive profits and maintain the price at bearable levels.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 Index continued with bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining 820 points, a positive change of 0.55 percent, closing all time high at 150,591 points.

In a note, brokerage house Topline Securities said the upward momentum was underpinned by better-than-expected corporate earnings and a strong liquidity push from local institutions, lifting the benchmark to uncharted heights. Investor confidence remained buoyant as market heavyweights attracted robust flows, reinforcing the bullish undertone.

The rally was largely fueled by index heavyweights including SYS, BAHL, NBP, MCB, and BAFL, which collectively contributed 503 points to the index’s upward trajectory, Topline said.

A total of 667,817,396 shares were traded during the day as compared to 809,082,439 shares the previous trading day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs. 40.728 billion against Rs. 48.430 billion on the last trading day.

As many as 487 companies transacted their shares in the stock market, 240 of them recorded gains and 216 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 31 companies remained unchanged.

Walmart has recalled frozen, raw shrimp sold in 13 states because federal health officials say it could have potential radioactive contamination.

The US Food and Drug Administration asked Walmart to pull three lots of Great Value brand frozen shrimp from stores after federal officials detected Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, in shipping containers and a sample of breaded shrimp imported from Indonesia.

The products could pose a “potential health concern” for people exposed to low levels of Cesium-137 over time, FDA officials said.

“If you have recently purchased raw frozen shrimp from Walmart that matches this description, throw it away,” FDA officials said in a statement.

The risk from the recalled shrimp is “quite low”, said Donald Schaffner, a food safety expert at Rutgers University.

Cesium-137 is a byproduct of nuclear reactions, including nuclear bombs, testing, reactor operations and accidents. It’s widespread around the world, with trace amounts found in the environment, including soil, food and air.

The level detected in the frozen breaded shrimp was far lower than FDA intervention levels. However, the agency said that avoiding potentially contaminated products could reduce exposure to low-level radiation that could lead to health problems over time.

The FDA is investigating reports of Cesium-137 contamination in shipping containers and products processed by PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, doing business as BMS Foods of Indonesia. US Customs and Border Protection officials alerted FDA that they found Cesium-137 in shipping containers sent to US ports in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and Savannah, Georgia.

FDA officials collected several product samples and detected contamination in one sample of frozen breaded shrimp. The shipping containers and products were denied entry into the US

However, the FDA then learned that Walmart had received potentially affected products imported after the first detection, from shipments that did not trigger contamination alerts.

Walmart immediately recalled the products, a company spokesperson said. They include Great Value brand frozen raw shrimp with lot codes 8005540-1, 8005538-1 and 8005539-1, all with best-by dates of 15 March 2027. The shrimp was sold in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia. Consumers should discard the products or return them to any Walmart store for refund.