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Jun 06, 2026
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New Cancer Treatments Shared at US Conference

AI Summary
Doctors, scientists, and researchers shared new research on cancer treatments at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting. The conference featured new treatments, including smart drugs and a daily pill that can tackle the world's deadliest cancer.

The Lead

Doctors, scientists, and researchers shared new research about ways to tackle cancer at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting, the world's largest cancer conference.

Breakthroughs in Cancer Treatment

The event in Chicago, attended by 40,000 health professionals, featured more than 200 sessions and 2,700 poster presentations on this year's theme, “the science and practice of translation: improving cancer outcomes worldwide”.

Smart Drugs in Cancer Treatment

Researchers have developed a smart drug that stops cancer cells hiding. The experimental tablet, GRWD5769, can help shrink tumours by at least 30% in six of the world’s most common forms of the disease, delegates in Chicago were told.

  • 26 of 83 patients with cervical, bladder, liver, bowel, lung or head and neck cancers who were given GRWD5769 alongside cemiplimab had tumour reductions of at least 30%.
  • 15 had tumour reductions of at least 30%.

A Daily Pill for Pancreatic Cancer

A pill that doubles survival time in patients with pancreatic cancer was presented at the conference. In a trial of 500 patients, all of whom had pancreatic cancer that had spread, the pill, daraxonrasib, doubled survival time, with fewer side-effects compared with chemotherapy.

  • Patients who took the drug lived substantially longer, for an average of 13.2 months, compared with 6.6 to 6.7 months for patients who had chemotherapy.

Safely Skipping Some Treatments

Some patients can safely skip some treatments, according to research presented at the conference. A genomic test could pave the way for a new era of personalised medicine, enabling doctors to determine which patients can safely skip chemotherapy.

  • The Optima trial, led by University College London, followed 4,000 patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer in the UK, Norway, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.
  • Those with a low score on the genomic test could be treated safely with hormone therapy alone.

The Future of Cancer Treatment

Urgent action is required to cope with rising cancer cases. The world faces a cancer workforce crisis, experts said, with a shortage of 100 million staff expected by 2050 when 100,000 people will be being diagnosed every day.

  • A 21% increase in cancer incidence is predicted, according to a report presented at the conference.
  • The rate is set to rise from 165 per 100,000 people in 2025 to 200 per 100,000 in 2050.