Insights from ASCO 2026

Every year, the global oncology community gathers at ASCO to share the data, trials, and clinical breakthroughs shaping cancer care. This year, the overarching theme was translation, focusing on how we take massive amounts of clinical data and translate it into practical, real-world tools for clinicians and patients.

What matters to patients is what matters most.

Dr. Eric Small

ASCO President

This guiding principle from Dr. Small shaped the entire event. Below is your fast-track guide to the most important themes, downloads, and clinical shifts emerging from the conference.

THE QUICK 6: KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Addressing undruggable tumors

The conference highlighted progress in successfully targeting tumors that were previously considered beyond reach.

The Download: The RASolute 302 study demonstrated a survival benefit in metastatic pancreatic cancer using the RAS(ON) inhibitor daraxonrasib.
The Clinical Shift: By pinpointing the exact biological reasons why they resist treatment, clinicians can finally target biology that was once considered completely undruggable.

Oncology is moving beyond identifying difficult cancers to treat successfully, and towards understanding exactly what makes them difficult in the first place.

2. Next Gen Immune Matchmaking

Immunotherapy is moving past broad biomarker classifications.

The Download: Presentations focused on immune matchmaking: understanding why a tumour is not responding to immunotherapy, then matching the intervention to that specific barrier. Such as blocking alternative immune escape pathways or inflaming the tumour microenvironment.
The Clinical Shift: Rather than treating resistance as a single problem, researchers are matching patients to highly specific combination therapies, next generation T cell engagers, and cell therapies to bypass resistance.

3. Timing as a Clinical Tool

Tools like ctDNA, which is circulating tumor DNA, and MRD, or minimal residual disease, are changing clinical decision making.

The Download: Data from the CIRCULATE Japan and SERENA 6 trials showed how ctDNA monitoring can guide therapy choices in real time.
The Clinical Shift: Biomarker technology has evolved. Instead of just detecting and characterizing the tumor these tools now help clinicians decide exactly when to start, change, or stop a treatment.

ctDNA is becoming oncology’s molecular timing tool — using the simplicity of repeat liquid biomarker testing to track tumour evolution in real time and guide when to act.

4. Whole Patient Survival

The discussion around clinical trials expanded to look closely at how patients live during and after treatment.

The Download: Significant trial data focused on managing treatment toxicities, cardiovascular impacts, and early-onset cancer support.
The Clinical Shift: Success is no longer measured solely by survival curves, but by how well patients recover and manage their daily lives. The industry is embracing the fact that what matters to patients is indeed what matters most.

5. The GLP1 Oncology Connection

Data regarding weight loss therapies made a notable appearance at this year's meeting.

The Download: Retrospective analyses presented at the conference explored links between GLP1 use and reduced recurrence rates in breast, colorectal, and bladder cancers.
The Clinical Shift: While the evidence is still preliminary, researchers are actively launching prospective studies to investigate this relationship.

Busy medical exhibition booth with a large blue banner reading 'Smart Therapies for Difficult Diseases' and people.

6. Experiential Science on the Exhibition Floor

The Download: The most successful exhibitions bypassed passive digital screens in favor of interactive installations and immersive brand experiences.
The Marketing Shift: For healthcare communicators, the lesson was clear. To make an impact, complex scientific data must be translated into hands on experiences that people can easily understand, feel, and remember.

Scientific innovation only creates value when people understand it and connect with it.