Revolution Medicines stole the show at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting as full data from its pancreatic cancer drug lived up to expectations, while Summit and Akeso proved the PD-(L)1/VEGF mechanism and Eli Lilly showed that its in vivo CAR T bet is paying off.
The biggest winners of this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference were patients with cancer, with two drugs at least doubling survival in pancreatic cancer trials and the term “practice-changing” bandied about in regards to these and other therapies.
From a business perspective, the victors included Revolution Medicines—hailed by Truist Securities ahead of ASCO as potentially “the next oncology titan”—and the current and apparently still reigning king, Merck. Revolution stole the show with a plenary presentation on Sunday that detailed its “unprecedented” pancreatic cancer data. Meanwhile, Merck may not have had the splashiest presentations in Chicago over the weekend, but analysts say the data show why the Big Pharma remains king of oncology.
Elsewhere, Pfizer—a prolific presenter with more than 40 abstracts at ASCO—shared robust data in lung, colorectal and prostate cancer; all things continue to come up Eli Lilly; and data from Summit Therapeutics and Akeso proved the PD-(L)1/VEGF mechanism, according to analysts, but left myriad questions on the table.
Here, BioSpace ranks ASCO 2026’s biggest winners, based on sheer data, market position, analyst sentiment and more.
1. Revolution: Changing the game in pancreatic cancer
After stunning the pancreatic cancer space in April with topline data showing that daraxonrasib nearly doubled overall survival for patients with advanced disease, Revolution doubled down with more detailed data at ASCO on Sunday.
In the global Phase 3 RASolute 302 trial, Revolution’s drug also doubled progression-free survival and nearly tripled the objective response rate compared to chemotherapy, according to the plenary presentation, which was interrupted several times by applause.
Daraxonrasib attracted the most hyperbolic response at ASCO from analysts and advocacy groups alike.
“It’s a grand slam. It is much more than a home run,” Julie Gralow, ASCO’s chief medical officer, said Saturday during a press briefing. Leerink Partners dubbed the full data “practice changing,” while Anna Berkenblit, chief scientific and medical officer at The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, referred to the results as “jaw dropping,” adding that the data “represent the most significant advance we have ever seen in pancreatic cancer.”
Truist Securities saw the dataset as “derisking approval and supporting rapid adoption” of the RAS inhibitor, according to a Sunday note to investors, adding that daraxonrasib could potentially launch in the third quarter of 2026 with a broad label.
2. Merck: Long-time oncology king holds its throne despite Keytruda’s looming patent cliff
It seems strange to call Merck a dark horse candidate for this list, but here we are. Going into ASCO, Merck was thought to have missed the PD-(L)1/VEGF race, currently led by Summit Therapeutics and Akeso’s ivonescimab and BioNTech and Bristol Myers Squibb’s pumitamig. Merck’s MK-2010, by comparison, is in much earlier-stage development.
While there is a common belief that this class could unseat Merck’s Keytruda as oncology’s top drug, that day isn’t here yet. After the data presented this weekend by Akeso, BMO Capital Markets declared in a May 31 note that: “King Keytruda’s reign continues.”
Moreover, Merck’s partner Kelun-Biotech presented Phase 3 data for sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) in first-line non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that reinforced its differentiated efficacy, the firm wrote in a May 29 note to investors.
“While we think PD-(L)1/VEGF (specifically BNTX/BMY’s pumitamig) development has shown meaningful mechanistic validation this weekend, we come away feeling as if Merck’s TROP2 and potential for combinations with its own PD-1/VEGF could offer the company the firepower and trial flexibility to not only be a leader in NSCLC but other solid tumors with more readouts imminent,” BMO said in a June 2 note.
RBC, meanwhile, said the TROP2 data are “consistent with the abstract that exceeded our efficacy expectations.”
With Keytruda still possessing around two years of exclusivity—and a seemingly solid post-2028 strategy—Merck takes second place in our ASCO rankings.
3. Eli Lilly: ‘Nutty’ Kelonia data validate in vivo CAR T approach
What would a pharmaceutical conference in 2026 be without Eli Lilly? One of the company’s numerous recent acquisitions paid dividends at ASCO.
In April, Lilly bought into the quickly emerging in vivo CAR T space with the up to $7 billion acquisition of gene delivery biotech Kelonia Therapeutics. On Sunday, Kelonia shared data from the Phase 1 inMMyCAR trial showing that all 18 patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma treated so far with KLN-1010 had no cancer in their bone marrow a month after treatment, as determined by a minimal residual disease test. This status was maintained after six months.
As for safety, most patients experienced grade 1 or 2 cytokine release syndrome, while there was one grade 1 and one grade 3 immune effector-cell associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) event, per Kelonia’s press release. No delayed neurotoxicity was observed.
This readout drew excited utterances from analysts at Leerink Partners, who told investors in a June 1 note that the data look “spectacular.”
Jake Van Naarden, president of Lilly Oncology, was also chuffed. “The data are remarkable,” he told Fierce Biotech on Sunday, adding that the results were achieved in patients who were the sickest of the sick. “That is nutty,” he said.
4. Summit: China peak reached but global questions remain
Lung cancer updates largely drove this year’s ASCO narrative, BMO said in a June 3 note, especially everyone’s favorite new modality: PD-(L)1/VEGF bispecifics, which “commanded the Symposium sessions and other notable orals.”
Among these, Summit Therapeutics and Chinese partner Akeso were the headliners. Akeso showed analysts and clinicians what they wanted at ASCO—a 34% reduction in the risk of death in the Phase 3 HARMONi-6 trial, which assessed ivonescimab in patients in China with first-line advanced squamous NSCLC.
Many questions remain for Summit, however. Chiefly, can ivonescimab replicate its success in a U.S.-based population?
“PD-(L)1/VEGFs show promise without all answers delivered,” BMO wrote. “HARMONi-6 results are positive for the mechanism even if caveats are numerous,” the firm continued, adding that the trial “is a statistical win, but not a closing chapter.”
Meanwhile, BMO analysts also gave a shout out to competitors BioNTech and BMS, whom they said “appeared to gain some momentum coming out of the weekend with global pumitamig data showing leading efficacy that could start to be recognized sooner than investors realize.”
5. Pfizer: Waiting in the wings
Pfizer’s presence and performance at ASCO may have been underrated. The New York–based giant presented new data for already-marketed drugs that could further cement them as strong treatment options and perhaps move them to earlier lines of therapy. But the best is yet to come, Leerink analyst David Risinger told BioSpace, with Pfizer’s key data expected later this year.
That said, Pfizer did make the biggest pre-conference oncology splash, betting up to $12.5 billion on a 12-candidate cancer collaboration with China’s Innovent. This secured the fifth place on our list for the company.
The “Innovent deal reflects interest in expanding on Pfizer’s ADC capabilities from the Seagen acquisition,” BMO wrote in a May 31 note. Pfizer finalized its $43 billion acquisition of the Seattle biotech in 2023, gaining Padcev and the much-anticipated sigvotatug vedotin. Indeed, the Innovent pact is meant to complement Pfizer’s existing Seagen portfolio, Chief Oncology Officer Jeff Legos told BMO over the weekend.
6. Immuneering: Joining the pancreatic cancer revolution
Revolution is not the only company transforming the treatment landscape for patients with pancreatic cancer. Prior to ASCO, Immuneering revealed that in a Phase 2a trial, its candidate atebimetinib combined with modified gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel (mGnP) more than doubled median overall survival compared to patients given GnP in the pivotal Phase 3 MPACT study. Approved by the FDA in 2013, mGnP has been the standard of care for late-stage pancreatic cancer ever since.
Immuneering elaborated on the data in an oral presentation at ASCO on Monday.
Notably, the biotech observed only two categories of grade 3 or higher treatment-related adverse events in at least 10% of participants, both of which were related to the chemo. One patient discontinued treatment with atebimetinib.
Despite the mostly positive data, Immuneering’s stock fell by as much as 24% on Monday—dropping the biotech to the bottom of our list of winners. Mizuho analysts said in a June 1 note that “the weakness appears way overdone,” however, attributing the drop to a “slight diminution of the ORR to 36% (vs. 39% previously)” and single patient dropout. After speaking with Immuneering management, Mizuho was unconcerned.
