Today, we’re switching up our usual rundown of industry news to highlight some notable clinical trial updates ahead of next week’s annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. On Thursday, conference organizers released abstracts, or snapshots, of most of the studies that’ll be presented at the gathering, which will be held in Chicago from May 29 to June 2.
The results unveiled Thursday don’t include so-called late-breaking abstracts, which usually spotlight particularly consequential study findings. Those data aren’t available until the day the relevant studies are presented. This year, that group includes highly anticipated readouts from studies of Revolution Medicines’ daraxonrasib in pancreatic cancer and Akeso and Summit Therapeutics’ cancer immunotherapy ivonescimab in lung tumors.
Abstract #8506
The upcoming ASCO meeting will include an important proof point for a drug Merck & Co. hopes to become a major part of its future.
Called sacituzumab tirumotecan, or sac-TMT, it’s an antibody-drug conjugate aimed at the “TROP2” protein expressed in many cancers. Merck licensed it through a broad alliance with Kelun Biotech. It has since advanced into a massive Phase 3 program, with 17 late-stage studies underway in a variety of tumors.
