Lung cancer
GSK and Hansoh Pharmaceutical’s antibody-drug conjugate success validates their partnership, one of the many deals in which Big Pharma has tapped a China company for promising cancer candidates.
Many of the FDA’s decisions this quarter involve applications that have previously been delayed, declined or outright rejected, including one for an mRNA vaccine that became the center of controversy earlier this year.
Despite an overall survival miss, Leerink Partners said Pfizer’s antibody-drug conjugate showed “promising” signals of efficacy in a subgroup of patients who had undergone only one prior line of treatment.
While Merck and Gilead Sciences reported back-to-back late-stage victories for their weekly HIV pill, the partners also discontinued a Phase 3 program for their cancer combo after disappointing lung cancer survival data.
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.
“King Keytruda’s reign continues,” analysts at BMO Capital Markets declared after Chinese data for Summit Therapeutics’ ivonescimab were revealed at the American Society for Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
Interim overall survival data on a TROP2 ADC from Merck and Chinese partner Kelun-Biotech provide support for the pharma’s big bet on its potential to help navigate Keytruda’s impending loss of exclusivity.
Analysts, investors and partner Summit Therapeutics had all been keenly awaiting the overall survival update, after previous data from Akeso’s HARMONi-6 trial left them wanting.
As Summit Therapeutics’ Chinese partner prepares to reveal data for a key trial at ASCO, analysts consider the impact on rivals Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and BioNTech.
PD-(L)1×VEGF bispecifics have emerged as a closely watched new class in immuno-oncology, with multiple candidates advancing through trials in lung cancer. But the potential of these drugs may be highest in cancers where angiogenesis and immune escape are tightly intertwined.
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