European Society for Medical Oncology Targeted Anticancer Therapies Asia Congress (ESMO TAT Asia) 2026

A study conducted by the Asia-Pacific Oncology Drug Development Consortium finds substantial variability in regulatory approval delays of pembrolizumab and trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) across 10 Asia-Pacific (APAC) territories, and a lack of consistent prioritization of high-incidence tumours, high clinical benefit scores or curative treatment intent.

A novel platform that can identify tumour-specific alternative splicing (AS)–derived neoantigens with high confidence level could potentially overcome key stumbling blocks in cancer neoantigen vaccine development, according to Ms Bui Que Tran Nguyen of the Medical Genetics Institute, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, who presented her team’s findings at ESMO TAT Asia 2026.

A multi-omics study by researchers from Japan has found that blood type B (BTB) is associated with reduced immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) efficacy in first-line (1L) treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Longer-term follow-up of the phase II ARTEMIS-002 trial continues to show promising efficacy of risvutatug rezetecan (ris-rez) in relapsed or refractory (R/R) sarcoma, with median overall survival (OS) reaching about 2 years, according to data presented at ESMO TAT Asia 2026.