ASCO 2026 Preview – A Clinical Compass for Studies Set to Change Oncology Practice

A randomized study testing whether perioperative apalutamide + ADT, before and after radical prostatectomy, is superior to ADT alone in high-risk localized/locally advanced prostate cancer. J&J announced that the results signal “a potential paradigm shift.”

Implications for Turkish practice: For high-risk localized prostate cancer cases discussed in Memorial Göztepe tumor board reports, the question of “the role of hormonal manipulation in curative-intent surgery” could be clarified by the first large randomized dataset. It will directly affect decisions by the Urology + Medical Oncology board.

The interesting aspect of this study is that a CDK4/6 inhibitor known as a breast cancer drug is being tested in a rare sarcoma in which CDK4 amplification is common. In other words, the rationale of matching drugs to tumor biology rather than tumor type.

Implications for Turkish practice: Clinical validation of a biomarker-guided approach to CDK4 amplification in soft-tissue sarcoma tumor board reports; also an important example of tissue-agnostic biomarker matching in rare tumors.

Adjuvant selpercatinib after curative surgery in patients with early-stage NSCLC and a RET fusion. Positive topline results were announced in February 2026; an OS signal is awaited. It will extend the line established by ADAURA (osimertinib, EGFR) and ALINA (alectinib, ALK) to RET.

Implications for Turkish practice: Adding selpercatinib after curative surgery for early-stage lung adenocarcinoma with a RET fusion could become standard. The practical message: the need for comprehensive molecular testing at diagnosis — without waiting for recurrence — will become even stronger. This reinforces the requirement for a comprehensive NGS panel with every new NSCLC diagnosis at Memorial Göztepe.

Ivonesimab is a bispecific antibody that targets PD-1 and VEGF simultaneously. PFS data were presented at ESMO 2025; at ASCO, overall survival findings will be announced. This is clinically important because progress in squamous histology has historically lagged behind nonsquamous histology.

Implications for Turkish practice: The possibility that a bispecific antibody + chemotherapy combination could replace the PD-1 monotherapy standard in squamous NSCLC. A candidate for a new frontline standard for Memorial Göztepe lung oncology boards.

Directly hitting RAS, historically considered an “undruggable” target, the first positive Phase 3 data. Daraxonrasib is an oral, multiselective, GTP-bound RAS-ON inhibitor covering KRAS G12 mutations (G12D, G12V, G12R) and wild-type RAS. The study’s principal investigator is Brian M. Wolpin, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Implications for Turkish practice: In pancreatic tumor board reports at Memorial Göztepe and other oncology centers, it will completely rewrite the 2nd-line treatment scenario. An OS improvement of this magnitude in mPDAC has not been seen for more than a decade. It received FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation and a Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher — approval is expected in late 2026/early 2027.

Topline data announced in February 2026: a statistically significant reduction in combined stage III-IV cancers — the primary endpoint — was not achieved. However, a favorable trend over time was reported in a subset of 12 cancers (anal, bladder, colorectal, esophageal, head and neck, liver/biliary tract, lung, lymphoma, myeloma, ovarian, pancreatic, and stomach).

Detailed data and subset analyses will be presented at ASCO; they will directly affect the future of population-based MCED policy.

Implications for Turkish practice: A strong topic for an analytical blog post on drozdogan.com; there is a gap in Turkish-language MCED content with a Turkish perspective . Once NHS-Galleri results are detailed, they will provide the essential data for discussing whether MCED tests should enter Turkish clinical practice.