Allyson J. Ocean, Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“For years, GI oncology meetings often felt defined by incremental progress, difficult diseases, and cautious optimism.
ASCO26 feels different.
This may finally be the dream conference for GI oncologists.
We are seeing practice-changing data across pancreatic, colorectal, gastric, and hepatobiliary cancers, with advances in targeted therapy, immunotherapy, precision medicine, and novel combinations that would have seemed unimaginable a decade ago.
The plenary presentation of the phase 3 RASolute 302 trial with Revolution Medicines’s daraxonrasib in 2nd-line pancreatic cancer represents a true milestone moment. Seeing a therapy targeting RAS demonstrate this level of survival benefit in pancreatic cancer is something many of us have waited our entire careers to witness. And this is JUST THE BEGINNING.
Phase 2a data from Immuneering Corporation’s atebimetinib (IMM-1-104) in combination with modified gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel (mGnP) as a first-line treatment for advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer shows a remarkable median overall survival of 17.3 months, with 64% of patients surviving at 12 months. The study also observed a 39% overall response rate & an 81% disease control rate among evaluable patients.
What makes this ASCO especially exciting is not just one drug or one abstract. It is the feeling that the field has finally reached an inflection point.
After years of explaining why GI cancers are so biologically complex and difficult to treat, we are now talking about real momentum, real innovation, and real hope for patients.
For those of us who have dedicated our lives to GI oncology, ASCO 2026 feels less like another conference and more like the beginning of a new era.”
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