ASCO 2026 closing day: barriers to cancer care and major treatment readouts
The world's largest cancer research meeting, ASCO 2026, concluded in Chicago on Monday. STAT News reports that the closing day's sessions focused on barriers to care, fresh treatment readouts and early detection technologies. The annual meeting drew more than 47,000 participants in person and online.
The most discussed item of the closing session was a pair of Phase III readouts in Merkel cell carcinoma. The Bristol Myers Squibb-developed avelumab combination produced a 31 percent reduction in mortality risk on the survival curve, drawing the loudest reaction in the hall.
In the general sessions, two presenters examined the cancer-prevention potential of GLP-1 class medicines. Vanderbilt University's Adriana Hung said her observational analysis had identified 'moderate but consistent reductions' in the incidence of ten cancer types among diabetic patients receiving GLP-1 agonists.
Hung qualified her presentation by saying the findings were at 'signal strength that needs confirmation in randomised trials'. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Andrew Chan separately noted that 'multi-centre randomised trials will be needed before GLP-1 medicines can be assigned a role in cancer prevention'.
Real-world data on the Galleri multi-cancer screening test, presented by Grail Holdings, also entered the session agenda. Grail chief executive Sir Harpal Kumar said the company was 'in negotiations to secure national coverage by US insurers by the end of 2027'.
National Cancer Institute director Kim Rathmell, in her closing address, said that 'the parallel between advances in cancer treatment and the persistence of geographic and economic disparities has been at the heart of the 2026 meeting'. Rathmell announced that the NCI had set aside 480 million dollars in its fiscal 2027 budget under an 'equitable access priority' line.
STAT News senior correspondent Angus Chen, in his digest of the meeting's themes, said 'we saw three days in which new data flowed in but so did new access barriers'. Chen highlighted that low- and middle-income countries' access to immune checkpoint inhibitors remained at 'about 12 percent of the per-capita level seen in the United States and Europe'.
World Health Organization Europe regional director Hans Kluge, presenting at the ASCO closing session, said 'the divergence of national cancer survival databases is the main technical barrier to international drug benchmarking'. Kluge announced a pan-European initiative for harmonised cancer registries.
AstraZeneca oncology head Susan Galbraith told STAT News that the company's 47 separate studies presented at ASCO 2026 were 'supporting six new indication submissions over the next six months'. Galbraith singled out new antibody-drug conjugate combination studies for lung and gastric cancers.
ASCO 2027 will again be held in Chicago. STAT News editor Elaine Chen, in her closing commentary, said 'the energy in the session rooms suggests we are in a period of acceleration both in clinical progress and in infrastructure inequities'. This article is not personal medical advice; treatment decisions should be made with health-care professionals.