ASCO 2026: Survival gains, bispecifics and ADC scrutiny shape oncology agenda

4 June 2026

The 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting delivered several potentially practice-changing datasets across solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, while underlining the growing influence of Chinese biotech innovation, antibody-drug conjugates and next-generation targeted therapies.

Immuno-oncology remained central to the meeting, but the strongest stories were not limited to checkpoint inhibitors. Survival data in pancreatic cancer and lung cancer, new breast cancer readouts and mixed results for antibody-drug conjugates all pointed to a market becoming more demanding on efficacy, safety and patient selection.

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