Improved survival on display at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago; Pfizer’s unusual pact with China’s Innovent highlights a new type of collaboration; Eli Lilly continues its nonstop deal streak, including with Chinese biotechs; and looking ahead to this weekend’s American Diabetes Association meeting.
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At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago this past weekend, packed plenary sessions from Revolution Medicines and Summit Therapeutics’ Chinese partner Akeso stole the show. For RevMed, analysts anticipate a potential approval in pancreatic cancer as early as this year, while Summit still has a tough road ahead showing that the survival benefit seen in Akeso’s clinical trial in China will hold up in a global population.
Immuneering, BMS/BioNTech, Merck, Pfizer and many more also scored oncology wins at the annual meeting, as did Moderna, with “encouraging” 5-year survival for its Merck-partnered mRNA-based personalized melanoma vaccine. The embattled drugmaker followed up that positive readout with news of $50 million in funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to test Moderna’s experimental Ebola vaccine as the latest outbreak continues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
Outside of ASCO, the past week saw Pfizer strike an unusual pact with China’s Innovent Biologics as it seeks to bolster its oncology pipeline. Reminiscent of another recent deal from BMS and Hengrui Pharma, it could signal a more collaborative approach to working with Chinese companies.
We’ll also cover the latest deals from Eli Lilly, which continues to rack up partners with its GLP-1 windfall. This week, the Indianapolis pharma struck a pact potentially worth more than $3 billion with Haisco Pharmaceutical Group to collaborate on a clutch of early-stage assets across undisclosed indications. And just across the Yellow Sea, Lilly linked up with South Korea’s Hanmi for a GLP-2 agonist being trialed for short bowel syndrome.
Finally, learn about how BrainStorm is planning another FDA bid for its experimental ALS therapy NurOwn with former regulator Peter Pitts now on the board, and check out a preview of the 2026 American Diabetes Association, or ADA, which kicks off this weekend in New Orleans. Eli Lilly will elaborate on recent data for its next-gen obesity asset retatrutide, while rival Novo Nordisk will present on its own next-gen candidate, CagriSema, which has been a bit overshadowed since it failed to best Lilly’s Zepbound in a Novo-sponsored trial earlier this year.
Editor’s note (June 3): This story has been updated to note that Moderna’s mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccine is being developed in partnership with Merck.
