Six communications themes I’m watching at ASH 2025
As I head to ASH 2025 this week, here are the six big communications themes I’ll be watching most closely:
- The CAR-T showdown: who’s going to steal the headlines?
- Hematology’s rare disease resurgence
- Targeted protein degradation’s disruptive potential
- Industry + advocacy collaboration = heme successes
- Myeloma’s innovation and the “arms race” everyone is talking about
- The reinvention of clinical trials processes (finally! On fire and propagating across the industry)
Theme #1: The CAR-T showdown: who will steal the headlines?
CAR-T will remain a central theme at ASH, but the story has shifted meaningfully since San Diego a year ago. Dual-target CAR-T, faster manufacturing, and in vivo CAR-T are widening the gap from incremental updates to full-blown evolution.
I am eager to see how companies like Arcellx and Legend Biotech communicate their accelerated progress beyond response rates, and how earlier stage innovators like Kelonia Therapeutics step into the conversation with a statement.
The momentum is undeniable! Let’s see who ends up owning the narrative by the end of ASH.
Theme #2: Hematology’s rare disease resurgence
This theme is one that’s close to my heart: rare disease.
Sickle cell disease is a clear example: a condition that, for far too long, has been treated as an afterthought in therapeutic development. And it isn’t alone. A number of rare hereditary anemias are now being brought under a broader “rare hematology” umbrella, a positive step that is bringing underserved patient communities the visibility they deserve.
What’s encouraging in 2025 is that the science is starting to meet that need. Gene therapies and improved diagnostics are creating genuine possibility for people living with these disorders. The old narrative of gene therapy “hype” is being replaced with lived experience — something I’m eager to see and hear this week.
While Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics have (rightfully) been in the spotlight recently for their progress, I’m eager to hear updates from earlier-stage innovators like Beam Therapeutics, Fulcrum Therapeutics, and Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc.. And organizations such as the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America are helping ensure the dialogue extends beyond therapeutic availability to include equity, care delivery, and long-term support.
This rising attention to rare hematology at ASH is incredibly welcome, and I’m glad to see it taking a larger place in the conversation this year.
Theme #3: Targeted protein degradation’s disruptive potential
The third (of six) themes I’m hearing updates on at ASH 2025 is targeted protein degradation – a modality that feels inevitable as part of oncology R&D future.
The premise of TPD is elegant: instead of trying to inhibit disease-driving protein, just remove it entirely. In hematologic cancers, where resistance is a recurring challenge, this shift matters. Degradation opens the door to targets long considered out of reach and may give us new path when existing therapies eventually lose effectiveness.
I’m especially interested in the work coming from Nurix Therapeutics and C4 Therapeutics, whose programs are pushing the field to rethink what’s possible. Their approaches feel ambitious — thoughtful, creative, and grounded in therapeutic urgency.
Degradation-based therapies aren’t dominating the conversation quite yet, but it feels like the beginning to something big.
Theme #4: Industry & advocacy collaboration: who will raise the bar?
If we zoom out across the life sciences, you can see the evolution of these partnerships:
- Phase 1: industry provided funding; advocacy raised awareness. Important, but limited.
- Phase 2 (where we are today): deeper collaboration of shared insights, advisory boards, community engagement, insights generation that fuel clinical and commercial programs.
And while that progress matters, we’re ready for Phase 3: a phase defined by collaboration that delivers tangible impact for patient communities. Advocacy brings relationships, trust, and credibility; industry brings infrastructure, scale, and resources.
The future requires both working together as equal partners.
In hematology, ASH is the perfect backdrop for this next chapter. By my count, 18 advocacy groups are exhibiting in Orlando this week. And at the same time, industry are showcasing more than 8,000 abstracts, alongside countless data releases and clinical program announcements that will shape the field for years to come.
So my question—and what I’m keeping an eye on—is amid all the science, what collaborations will we also hear about? Which organizations on both sides will step forward with models of partnership that strengthen care delivery, advance equity, or support community needs?
I am eager to see what “Phase 3” collaboration in hematology can look like in 2025 and beyond.
Theme #5: Myeloma’s innovation momentum
Myeloma innovation is accelerating — and the race to outthink this disease is increasingly fascinating. Without question, this is one of the most fast-moving and inventive corners of hematology right now.
What makes myeloma so compelling this year is not just the volume of innovation — it’s the pace and creativity behind it. CAR-T, bispecifics, trispecifics, CELMoDs, degraders… every modality seems to be leveling up at once, each aiming to push the boundaries of depth, durability, safety, or simplicity.
I’ve already mentioned the dynamic taking place between Arcellx and Legend Biotech. Both have compelling BCMA-directed CAR-T data, and both are stepping into ASH with momentum—making this one of the most interesting data narratives to follow this week.
Smaller players are contributing meaningfully here, too. One example is CellCentric, whose combination of inobrodib with BCMA-directed T-cell engagers signal that emerging companies are testing thoughtful, mechanism-aligned combinations rather than competing head-on with legacy agents.
This “innovation acceleration” is exactly where I expect some of ASH’s most exciting myeloma updates to land. I’m looking forward to seeing what new possibilities emerge as the data rolls out.
Theme #6: The reinvention of clinical trials
The old way we’ve run clinical trials has been overdue for a reset — and it finally feels like we’re getting one.
On Monday, I shared the six communications themes I’m watching at ASH 2025. I’ve been diving into these one by one and today I wrap up the series by addressing the evolution of clinical trials – which is happening at long last.
Trials are finally starting to move past the old model: big, slow, expensive and unnecessarily hard. The historical experience was designed around what worked for institutions and CROs, not for patients or the teams trying to execute these studies. In this process, “CRO” became a dirty word as many of those legacy processes couldn’t, or didn’t, keep up with the pace of science and culture.
I’m very pleased to see this week ways that the field is breaking out of those old modus operandi. Trials are starting to collect better data in smarter ways, with patients reporting updates from home instead of making endless site visits. Digital tools and wearables are finally being used to capture signals that used to fall through the cracks. There are MANY smaller, more innovative groups here at ASH who are showing up with fresh approaches that make studies more manageable, more responsive, and more humane. And the endpoints we’re choosing are starting to actually reflect what matters to people living with these conditions.
It feels like we’re heading in the right direction!
Waterhouse is a brand reputation agency that helps emerging and fast-growth life sciences companies build competitive advantage. For more information email dmickle@waterhousebrands.com
