Data from early clinical trials presented at the ESMO Congress 2021 suggest that new anticancer treatments are on the horizon, with a clear emphasis on precision medicine. Despite medical research suffering setbacks in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wealth of promising new agents and innovative therapeutic approaches currently in development is evidence that the oncology field is once again looking towards the future, closing the annual rendez-vous of the oncology community with a message of hope.