Marcin Piotrowski, Kinga Suska, Damian Jacenik, Jakub Fichna
INTRODUCTION: This review evaluates recent therapeutic advances in colorectal cancer (CRC), with a focus on late-phase clinical trials published between January 2024 and March 2025. The objective was to synthesize emerging data on chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). AREAS COVERED: Notable findings include durable survival with pembrolizumab and nivolumab + ipilimumab in MSI-H/dMMR mCRC, efficacy of fruquintinib in refractory disease, and promising early outcomes with SCRT-based immunochemotherapy in LARC. EXPERT OPINION: Recent trials support precision oncology in CRC, highlighting durable benefits of targeted and immune therapies. However, heterogeneity in trial designs and underrepresentation of real-world populations limit generalizability.