ASCO 2026: 6 Key Commercial Trends in Oncology

ASCO 2026 brought the first Phase III demonstration of overall survival benefit for a PD-1×VEGF bispecific over a standard anti-PD-1 regimen in first-line NSCLC, alongside the first Phase III PFS benefit for a TROP2 ADC plus immunotherapy in PD-L1-positive patients. Both results are clinically meaningful — but both trials used Chinese-specific comparators rather than the Western standard of care, limiting direct applicability to US and European markets. KOL consensus at ASCO was that this data is compelling but not immediately practice-changing in Western markets. The global trials to watch are HARMONi-3 (ivonescimab vs. Keytruda plus chemotherapy) and TroFuse-007 (sac-TMT plus Keytruda vs. Keytruda in PD-L1-high patients). For pharma strategy and business development teams, the NSCLC data raises the possibility of a genuine first-line shift — but the real commercial question won’t be answered until Western-standard comparator data is available.