News|Articles|October 12, 2026

ESMO 2026 Preview: 5 Late-Breaking Trials Patients Should Watch

Fact checked by: CURE staff

From a personalized melanoma vaccine to new options for biliary, stomach, lung and endometrial cancers, here are 5 ESMO 2026 abstracts to watch.

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2026 takes place Oct. 23-27 in Madrid, Spain. The meeting’s Presidential Symposium sessions are its most high-profile stage, and this year they will feature 12 late-breaking abstracts.

Many of the companies behind these studies have already said their trials met their main goals. What they have not shared is how large the benefits were. Those details will come out when each study is presented.

Here are five late-breaking studies to watch and what they could mean for people with cancer.

What Is a Late-Breaking Abstract?

A late-breaking abstract is a study whose results arrived too late for the regular submission deadline. ESMO saves these slots for research that could change how cancer is treated. For ESMO 2026, finalized late-breaking abstracts were due Sept. 8.

1. INTerpath-001: Can a Personalized mRNA Vaccine Keep Melanoma From Returning?

Presentation: Oct. 24

INTerpath-001 tested intismeran autogene, an investigational mRNA treatment, in 1,137 people with stage 2B to 4 melanoma that had been completely removed with surgery. Each dose is custom-made from the genetic makeup of the person’s own tumor.

Participants received either intismeran plus Keytruda (pembrolizumab) or Keytruda alone. In August, Merck and Moderna said the combination significantly lengthened two things compared with Keytruda alone:

Recurrence-free survival: the time before cancer returns.
Distant metastasis-free survival: the time before cancer spreads to distant parts of the body.

An earlier phase 2b study linked the combination to a 49% reduction in the risk of recurrence or death at five years.

Dr. Andrew Pecora, co-division chief of the Skin and Sarcoma Service at Hackensack Meridian John Theurer Cancer Center in New Jersey, explained in an interview with CURE why tumor cells can be targeted this way. “They’re foreigners living inside our body, and they express on their surface what are called neoantigens,” he said.

2. SAFFRON: A Pill-Only Option After Tagrisso Stops Working?

Presentation: Oct. 25

Many people with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer take Tagrisso (osimertinib). Over time, the cancer can stop responding. A common cause is a change in a protein called MET: the cancer either makes too much of it or carries extra copies of its gene.

SAFFRON is a global phase 3 trial in people whose cancer progressed on Tagrisso and has one of these MET changes. It compared savolitinib, an oral MET inhibitor, plus Tagrisso against platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy. In August, HUTCHMED reported that the two-pill combination beat chemotherapy on both progression-free survival and overall survival.

3. HARMONi-GI1: Ivonescimab Versus Imfinzi in Biliary Tract Cancer

Presentation: Oct. 25

Biliary tract cancer starts in the bile ducts or gallbladder. Today, the standard first treatment for advanced disease is Imfinzi (durvalumab) plus chemotherapy. In the TOPAZ-1 trial, that combination produced a median overall survival of 12.8 months, compared with 11.5 months for chemotherapy alone.

HARMONi-GI1 tested ivonescimab directly against that standard. Ivonescimab is a bispecific antibody, meaning it attaches to two targets at once: PD-1, which helps the immune system recognize cancer, and VEGF, which helps tumors grow blood vessels. The trial enrolled 682 people in China, and Akeso said it met its overall survival goal. Experts will be watching how large the survival difference is. Because the trial took place in a single country, confirmation in other countries may be needed.

4. CLARITY-Gastric01: A New Claudin 18.2 Treatment for Stomach Cancer

Presentation: Oct. 25

Sonesitatug vedotin is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). An ADC delivers chemotherapy directly to cancer cells that carry a specific protein, in this case claudin 18.2.

CLARITY-Gastric01 compared the drug with a treatment chosen by each person’s doctor. Participants had previously treated stomach, gastroesophageal junction or esophageal adenocarcinoma. The trial reached its overall survival goal in people who had received at least two earlier treatments. It also showed a survival benefit in the broader group that included people with one earlier treatment.

One detail could matter for eligibility. People qualified if at least 25% of their tumor cells showed claudin 18.2, which is a lower bar than the one used for the approved drug Vyloy (zolbetuximab).

5. TroFuse-005: A New Option for Endometrial Cancer After Immunotherapy

Presentation: Oct. 26

TroFuse-005 enrolled 776 people with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer whose disease grew after both platinum chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The trial compared sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) with chemotherapy, either doxorubicin or paclitaxel. Sac-TMT is an ADC that targets a protein called TROP2.

Merck said sac-TMT improved both overall survival and progression-free survival. It is the first ADC to do so in a global phase 3 trial in this setting. No new safety concerns were reported.

What Should Patients Do With This Information?

None of these treatments is newly approved yet, and early announcements do not show the full picture of benefits and side effects. If you have one of these cancers, talk with your care team about whether a clinical trial could be right for you. Follow CURE’s ESMO 2026 coverage for full results as they are presented.