Oncology Research

Melbourne – November 05, 2026 -- Telix Pharmaceuticals has joined Thera4Care, a 27-partner European consortium, and its FAP-targeting dimer DOTAGA.Glu.(FAPi)2 will enter a Phase 1 trial labelled with terbium-161 (161Tb) in metastatic solid tumors.

Consortium picks Telix's FAP dimer for a Phase 1 trial with terbium-161

The trial will assess the safety profile and preliminary activity of 161Tb-DOTAGA.Glu.(FAPi)2 in patients with FAP-expressing metastatic solid tumors. The initial focus is ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and sarcomas. Telix says this aligns closely with its own development plans for TLX400-Tx, the lutetium-177 (177Lu) version of the same compound. The dimer has already been validated in several clinical studies.

Rome – – November 03, 2026 --

The START Center for Cancer Research will open its first Italian early-phase oncology trial site inside Rome's IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori Regina Elena, under a strategic partnership with the public hospital organization Istituti Fisioterapici Ospitalieri (IFO). The site will be fully integrated into START's network and will have access to its global trial portfolio from day one.

Italy's 390,000 annual cancer diagnoses meet a thinner trial footprint

Italy records approximately 390,000 new cancer diagnoses a year, according to the 2025 edition of the national report "I numeri del cancro in Italia," produced by AIOM and partner organizations. Despite that burden, Italy runs fewer clinical trials relative to its population than several major Western European markets, the companies said. They describe this gap as an opening for sponsors to reach patients through established research institutions.

Bronx, N.Y. – – November 03, 2026 -- The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded a five-year, $10 million grant to a multi-institutional team led by Julio A. Aguirre-Ghiso, Ph.D., of Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC). The money will fund research into the biological processes behind breast cancer relapse and into ways to predict and prevent recurrence.

The NCI estimates that up to 685,000 people die from breast cancer worldwide each year. Nearly all fatal cases involve disease that returns in other organs years or decades after surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.

SYDNEY – November 02, 2026 -- Kazia Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KZIA) will present two preclinical abstracts on its lead asset paxalisib at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), held Dec. 8-11, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas.

Poster P4-9-18 challenges the view that dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors are equivalent

The first poster reports that paxalisib induces durable tumour and immune reprogramming across breast cancer subtypes. Kazia says these effects are not necessarily shared by other dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors in preclinical models. The company believes the evidence supports a mechanism of action that extends beyond conventional kinase inhibition.

WASHINGTON – October 29, 2026 -- LUNGevity Foundation and the Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research (RTFCCR) have awarded $620,000 to an early-phase clinical trial at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. The trial will test whether pairing two FDA-approved drugs can stop resistance to osimertinib in EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Resistance to EGFR inhibitors affects a sizable share of NSCLC patients

About 15% of NSCLC patients in the US and 35% in East Asia have tumors with an EGFR gene mutation that drives cancer growth. Multiple generations of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) stop growth in these tumors. Over time, however, tumors develop resistance and resume growing. The cause is drug-tolerant persister (DTP) cells, which adapt and evolve to evade treatment.

WASHINGTON – October 29, 2026 -- LUNGevity Foundation and patient advocacy group RETpositive have awarded a combined $340,000 to two research projects targeting drug resistance in RET-positive cancers, where tumors eventually outlast the two FDA-approved RET tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

RET fusions drive 1% to 2% of non-small cell lung cancers

RET fusions occur when part of the RET gene joins with another gene. Beyond lung cancer, RET alterations appear in thyroid, colon and breast cancers. Both approved TKIs can be effective, but tumors evolve resistance and resume growth, which the organizations name as the critical priority for patients.

Pittsburgh – October 17, 2026 -- Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Cancer Center has launched RANDY'S Trial, a clinical study funded by a gala that raised $44,000 in 2025, to test whether existing medications can break down fibrosis that blocks surgery in patients with appendiceal and other peritoneal cancers.

The trial is formally titled Repurposed And Naturally-Derived Drugs for the Treatment of Fibrosis in Peritoneal Carcinomatosis. It is supported by The Randy & Stephanie Meyer Spread Goodness Fund and is named for the late Lt. Randy Meyer II, a City of Pittsburgh firefighter who battled a rare form of appendix cancer for more than a decade.

LONDON – – October 07, 2026 -- OncoBayes has completed preclinical work on OB-001, an oral drug candidate designed to overcome antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) resistance and boost brain penetration of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), the privately held clinical-stage pharmaceutical company announced.

OB-001 raises osimertinib brain exposure by nearly 400% in mouse studies

In perfused-brain mouse models, pretreatment with OB-001 increased brain exposure of osimertinib by almost 400%, while plasma exposure remained broadly unchanged. The data, presented at AACR 2026, covered four gold-standard kinase inhibitors and showed systemic drug levels were largely unaffected by the efflux-pump inhibition.

Tokyo – October 07, 2026 -- Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503) will present 21 abstracts from its oncology portfolio at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2026, running October 23-27 in Madrid, Spain.

Enfortumab vedotin combination shows longest follow-up data yet in urothelial cancer

Presentations on PADCEV (enfortumab vedotin) plus pembrolizumab include the longest follow-up reported to date for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer, alongside subgroup and treatment-setting analyses. Additional data cover trials in progress evaluating bladder preservation strategies in muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Cambridge, Mass. – October 02, 2026 -- Marengo Therapeutics will present interim results from its STARt-002 trial combining invikafusp alfa with Gilead's TRODELVY (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy) at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer's 41st Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, November 4-8, 2026.

STARt-002 pairs a T-cell agonist with an antibody-drug conjugate for the first time in clinical testing

The Phase 1b/2 study tests invikafusp alfa, a Vβ6-selective dual T-cell agonist, alongside TRODELVY's TROP2-directed cytotoxic payload delivery. Marengo's Chief Medical Officer Kevin Chin said the ADC is designed to release tumor antigens and inflame the tumor microenvironment, priming less immunogenic tumors for T-cell-mediated responses that invikafusp alfa can then amplify.