ASCO is the world’s largest oncology conference. More than 40,000 researchers, physicians, and investors gathered in Chicago - and on Sunday afternoon, the room stood up.
It happened during Revolution Medicines’ presentation of Phase 3 results for daraxonrasib in pancreatic cancer. Not at the end, but in the middle, when the survival curves appeared on the screen. The crowd gave not one, but two standing ovations.
We covered why this moment was coming in our second ASCO Intelligence post: RAS is a mutation that acts like a stuck accelerator that drives cancer cell growth and has resisted every attempt to drug it for more than 30 years. The Phase 3 data showed patients on daraxonrasib survived a median of 13.2 months versus 6.7 months on chemotherapy, essentially doubling survival1. The results were published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. Looking beyond these data points, we see a trend where survival rates will increase to a point in five to seven years where we could see pancreatic patients live much longer.
A standing ovation for daraxonrasib at ASCO. Over 40k oncologists, entrepreneurs, investors, and patient advocates celebrated a breakthrough in the fight against pancreatic cancer. You never forget these moments. It’s what innovation is all about.
Additional Breakthrough Data
In our ASCO preview, we mentioned that this year's ASCO conference felt different. We noted that biotech companies - not big pharma – were presenting advanced stage research on medicines that may change the way cancer is treated. Here are the highlights:
Extended Progression-Free Survival in Advanced Breast Cancer
Celcuity presented Phase 3 clinical trial results for gedatolisib, targeting the most common form of breast cancer (called HR+/HER2-), which affects roughly 70% of all breast cancer patients globally (1.5 million new cases per year).2,3 The first treatment most patients receive, endocrine therapy, keeps the cancer at bay for a while, but for 3 out of 4 patients, the disease eventually progresses4. When this happens, doctors turn to drugs called Piqray® (Novartis) and Truqap® (AstraZeneca), both approved for second-line treatment in patients with specific genetic alterations. Both drugs carry significant side effect burdens (e.g., elevated blood sugar, rash, and GI problems) that cause many patients to stop taking them. Gedatolisib takes a different approach, blocking multiple pathways in the cancer's growth network rather than one.
The study results presented at ASCO show that gedatolisib more than doubled the time patients lived without disease progression compared to Piqray (~11 months versus 5.6 months). Additionally, patients on gedatolisib were also far less likely to stop treatment because of side effects (2.6%-3.8% vs 7.1%).
While the results on median progression free survival fell just short of some Wall Street expectations, the doubling of clinical benefit and significance are hard to dismiss; it is rare for a drug to simultaneously improve both efficacy and tolerability over the existing standard of care.
Digestive tract cancer
Cogent Biosciences presented Phase 3 results for bezuclastinib in GIST. Patients went to a median of 16.5 months without disease progression versus 9.2 months on the current standard of care. This is the first time any treatment has ever beaten an active comparator in this disease in 20 years.5 The average patient stayed on treatment for more than 21 months. An FDA decision on bezuclastinib is expected on November 30, 2026.
A Simpler Cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma
Kelonia presented Phase 1 data for an experimental cell therapy for multiple myeloma that works inside the body. The study showed a 100% response rate across all 18 patients, with the first patient still in complete remission more than 10 months later.6 This approach is far simpler than the complex cell therapies currently available, and helps explain why Eli Lilly recently announced a definitive agreement to acquire Kelonia for $3.25 billion upfront, up to $7 billion total.7
Advances for Women with Ovarian cancer
Immatics presented Phase 1 clinical trial data for IMA203CD8, a cell therapy that engineers a patient's own immune cells to find and destroy tumors. In patients who had already failed multiple prior treatments, a single infusion achieved a 63% response rate, including four patients whose cancer disappeared entirely, in a small early-stage trial designed primarily to test safety, not efficacy.8 As ovarian cancer has historically resisted immunotherapy (10-15% response rate),9 a 63% response rate from one infusion demands attention.
China Reaches the ASCO Plenary
The Chinese biotech Akeso had its drug ivonescimab selected for an ASCO plenary session — the first time a China-originated drug has appeared there in ASCO's 61-year history. One important caveat for US investors: the trial was conducted entirely in China, and the FDA does not accept regulatory submissions based primarily on China-only trials. The drug remains investigational in the US, where Summit Therapeutics holds the rights and is running a separate global trial. That readout is the one to watch.
The China trial data, presented at ASCO and published simultaneously in The Lancet, showed a striking 34% reduction in the risk of death in lung cancer patients.10 The milestone signals something real: the quality of cancer science coming out of China has reached a level where it belongs on the ASCO plenary stage. RTW’s longtime coverage of China and presence positions us well to identify investments and potential drug candidates for new company creation.
RTW’s Insights on Cancer Research from ASCO
These are not isolated events. In the two weeks before ASCO opened, the FDA approved eight new cancer treatments, covering bladder cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and rare tumors, one of the most concentrated surges of oncology approvals on record.11 ASCO then delivered:
a standing ovation in pancreatic cancer,
a potential new standard of care in advanced breast cancer,
a 100% response rate in a blood cancer trial leading to a $7 billion acquisition,
a 63% response rate in ovarian cancer from a single infusion, and
the first Chinese drug ever selected for an ASCO plenary.
From a distance, one might question whether an additional six-month progression free survival is meaningful. Statistically, doubling PFS is indeed meaningful, but what matters is that progress is captured incrementally and builds over time. While the crowd cheered RevMed for their result in pancreatic, it’s worth noting that their success came from targeting the RAS protein, which has been thought of as undruggable until now. And what’s more is that RAS mutations account for 30% of all tumor types. The opportunity that lies ahead is vast and within reach.
We also see the rise of China biotech and believe a symbiotic relationship between the US and China is best for biotech. Cancer does not know borders.
What made this week different was not just the results -- it was where they came from. The breakthroughs were largely driven by small, focused biotech companies working on the hardest challenges in oncology. The science is working. The opportunity is real. Biotech is back.
Statements reflect RTW’s views and opinions as of the date hereof. All expressions of opinion are subject to change without notice and are not intended to be a forecast of future events or results. This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
1 O'Reilly EM et al. Daraxonrasib in Previously Treated Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer. N Engl J Med. Published online May 31, 2026. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2605555. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2605555.
2 Watt GP et al. Size and Treatment Outcomes of HR+, HER2- Early Breast Cancer Population with High Risk of Recurrence. Frontiers in Oncology / PMC. 2025.
3 International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), WHO. Global Breast Cancer Burden Analysis. Nature Medicine, published February 24, 2025. IARC Press Release No. 361.
4 DelveInsight. Metastatic HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer Epidemiology Forecast -- 2034. delveinsight.com/report-store/hormone-receptor-hr-positive-human-epidermal-receptor-2-her2-negative-breast-cancer-epidemiology-forecast
5 Cogent Biosciences, Inc. Detailed Clinical Data from PEAK Phase 3 Trial with Bezuclastinib in Combination with Sunitinib in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST) at 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting. Press release. May 30, 2026.
6 Kelonia Therapeutics. Kelonia Therapeutics Presents Updated First-in-Human Data from Phase 1 inMMyCAR Study of KLN-1010 in vivo BCMA CAR-T Therapy at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Press release. May 31, 2026.
7 Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly to Acquire Kelonia Therapeutics to Advance In Vivo CAR-T Cell Therapies. Press release. April 20, 2026.
8 Immatics N.V. Immatics Presents Clinical Activity of IMA203CD8 PRAME Cell Therapy in Hard-to-Treat Gynecologic Cancers at 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting. Press release. May 30, 2026.
9 AACR. 'Finding Ways to Overcome Ovarian Cancer's Resistance to Immunotherapy.' September 2024.
10 Lu S et al. Ivonescimab plus chemotherapy versus tislelizumab plus chemotherapy in advanced squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (HARMONi-6): interim overall survival analysis of a randomized, double-blind, phase 3 trial in China. The Lancet. Published online May 31, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00966-9.
11 FDA Oncology/Hematologic Malignancies Approval Notifications. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resources-information-approved-drugs/oncology-cancerhematologic-malignancies-approval-notifications. Eight approvals May 8-28, 2026: zenocutuzumab-zbco (Bizengri, May 8); sonrotoclax (Beqalzi, May 13); oral decitabine/cedazuridine (Inqovi) plus venetoclax (May 13); atezolizumab (Tecentriq, May 15); fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (Enhertu, two indications, May 15); datopotamab deruxtecan-dlnk (Datroway, May 22); pivekimab sunirine-pvzy (Decnupaz, May 27); durvalumab (Imfinzi) plus BCG (May 28)
