ASCO Annual Meeting, running May 29 to June 2, 2026 at McCormick Place in Chicago is the single biggest stage in cancer research, and this year’s lineup is stacked. From AI-built foundation models to radioligands and individualized cancer vaccines, here are the companies and the people driving the field’s most-watched stories right now.
1. Tempus AI, the AI layer under modern oncology
Watch: Eric Lefkofsky, Founder & CEO
Tempus just landed on TIME’s 10 Most Influential Health and Life Science Companies of 2026, and it’s easy to see why. The company is assembling what it calls the largest multimodal foundation model in oncology, bolstered by a multi-year collaboration with AstraZeneca and Pathos AI and the acquisition of digital-pathology pioneer Paige. Lefkofsky, who founded the company after his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis, is one of the most recognizable figures at the intersection of AI and cancer care. Tempus is presenting at ASCO 2026 and holding its inaugural Investor Day on May 29.
Eric Lefkofsky/wikipedia.org
2. BioNTech, from COVID vaccine to multi-product oncology
Watch: Uğur Şahin, CEO & Özlem Türeci, Chief Medical Officer (co-founders)
BioNTech is making its boldest oncology push yet. The company expects seven late-stage data readouts in 2026 and plans to have 15 Phase 3 trials running by year’s end as it works to become a multi-product oncology company. Backed by a massive cash position and more than ten novel-novel combination trials, the husband-and-wife founding scientists remain among the most compelling figures in the mRNA-and-beyond cancer story.
Uğur Şahin & Özlem Türeci/www.deutschland.de
3. Natera, the MRD testing giant
Watch: Steve Chapman, CEO
Natera’s Signatera test tracks tumor-specific DNA in the blood to catch cancer recurrence before scans can, and adoption is exploding, with minimal residual disease (MRD) test volume growing more than 50% in a single year and over 300,000 patients tested. With a market cap in the tens of billions and a tissue-free MRD assay now launched for colorectal cancer, Natera sits at the center of the liquid-biopsy revolution.
Steve Chapman/medium.com
4. Perspective Therapeutics, the alpha-emitter radioligand story
Watch the data: VMT-α-NET program
Radioligand therapy is among the hottest modalities in oncology, and Perspective is pushing into the frontier of alpha-emitters with its lead-212 (²¹²Pb) platform. At ASCO 2026 the company is presenting updated data across all three of its clinical programs: VMT-α-NET in neuroendocrine tumors, VMT01 in melanoma, and PSV359 in solid tumors. Early signals include durable disease control and continued deepening of responses in neuroendocrine tumors, plus a melanoma program now running both monotherapy and a checkpoint-inhibitor (nivolumab) combination cohort.
5. Relay Therapeutics, precision drugs designed from protein motion
Watch: Sanjiv Patel, CEO
Relay uses its “Dynamo” computational platform to design drugs based on how proteins actually move, not just their static shape. CEO Sanjiv Patel has framed 2026 as a pivotal year defined by multiple clinical milestones for its lead PI3Kα inhibitor, zovegalisib (RLY-2608), which recently picked up FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation in PIK3CA-mutant, HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer and posted fresh Phase 2 data in PIK3CA-driven vascular anomalies, a sign of computation-driven drug design entering serious clinical territory.
Sanjiv Patel/Relay Therapeutics
6. Olema Oncology, a new target in breast cancer
Watch the data: OP-3136 (KAT6 inhibitor)
Olema is bringing encouraging first-in-human Phase 1 data for OP-3136, an oral selective KAT6A/B inhibitor, to ASCO 2026 (poster, May 30). The early read: well-tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities and evidence of anti-tumor activity across multiple solid tumor types, supporting continued evaluation as monotherapy and in combination with endocrine therapy in ER+/HER2- breast cancer. KAT6 is an emerging breast-cancer target, and first-in-human signals reliably draw attention at ASCO.
7. Agenus, checkpoint-refractory melanoma responses
Watch the data: BOT/BAL combination
Agenus is presenting its first Phase 2 data for the botensilimab/balstilimab (BOT+BAL) combination, showing durable responses and meaningful survival in a cohort of heavily pretreated patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma that had stopped responding to checkpoint inhibitors, one of the toughest settings in immuno-oncology. The full dataset is being presented May 31 by Dr. Michael Atkins.
8. CytomX Therapeutics, drugs that switch on only inside tumors
Watch: Sean McCarthy, D.Phil., President, CEO & Chairman
CytomX builds “masked,” conditionally activated therapeutics (its PROBODY platform) designed to stay inactive until they reach the tumor, aiming to separate efficacy from the systemic toxicity that limits so many cancer drugs. Its lead clinical assets, CX-2051 and CX-801, target high-unmet-need settings including colorectal cancer and melanoma, an elegant engineering bet on decoupling potency from off-tumor harm.
Sean McCarthy, D.Phil./cytomx.com
9. Revolution Medicines, RAS(ON) inhibition takes center stage
Watch the data: daraxonrasib (RASolute 302)
Revolution landed one of ASCO 2026’s most coveted slots: a Plenary Session late-breaker for daraxonrasib, its oral RAS(ON) multi-selective inhibitor, in previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal settings in oncology. Phase 3 RASolute 302 met all primary and key secondary endpoints, with significant gains in progression-free and overall survival versus chemotherapy. The full dataset is being presented May 31 by Dr. Brian M. Wolpin of Dana-Farber.
10. Oncolytics Biotech, immune-priming therapy in GI cancers
Watch the data: pelareorep
Oncolytics is advancing pelareorep, a reovirus-based, intravenously delivered double-stranded RNA immunotherapeutic designed to turn immunologically “cold” tumors “hot”, toward registration-directed programs in gastrointestinal cancers, with a focus on squamous cell anal cancer and metastatic colorectal cancer (plus a first-line pancreatic Phase 3). The company is presenting new GI data at ASCO 2026 and has been actively building out its late-stage clinical leadership, making it a representative name in the immune-priming and oncolytic space.
Which of these modalities will define the next decade of cancer care? Follow the readouts in Chicago, May 29–June 2.
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Written by: Semiramida Nina Markosyan, Editor, OncoDaily Canada