A Field in Full Stride: Reflections From ASCO 2026

Every year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting arrives like the tide, pulling investigators, clinicians, and collaborators into the current of data, debate, and possibility. ASCO 2026 was no exception. From the largest phase 3 readouts to the long-awaited confirmations of trials years in the making, the meeting delivered results that will shape how oncology pharmacists counsel patients, manage regimens, and anticipate the next generation of standards of care.

At the center of this issue is the PROTEUS trial, which delivered compelling evidence for apalutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy as a new standard of care in high-risk localized prostate cancer. Breast cancer data were also among the meeting’s most discussed findings. The camizestrant combination demonstrated sustained benefit beyond first progression in ESR1-mutated disease—alongside the GIRE regimen, which earned FDA priority review on the strength of its progression-free survival data in the first-line metastatic setting.

Solid tumor oncology also had a strong showing. Lung cancer brought 2 distinct stories: Lorlatinib’s 7-year follow-up in ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer, and CHRYSALIS-2’s nearly comparable survival data in atypical EGFR-mutated disease, a historically underserved molecular subset that is finally receiving dedicated attention. Daraxonrasib is rewriting expectations in second-line metastatic pancreatic cancer, a disease state that has resisted progress for decades. SARC041 delivered a long-awaited answer in dedifferentiated liposarcoma, validating abemaciclib in a histology where options have been scarce. And in urothelial cancer, the 3.5-year follow-up of EV-302 confirmed that the survival advantage of enfortumab vedotin plus pembrolizumab is not only durable but deepening over time.

The breadth of what follows reflects just how wide a net ASCO cast this year. In hematology, tafasitamab earned its place in the front-line diffuse large B-cell lymphoma conversation, and teclistamab demonstrated durable survival advantages over standard regimens in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Pirtobrutinib demonstrated efficacy and tolerability in treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, and the DREAMM-9 trial provided important dosing guidance for belantamab mafodotin in transplant-ineligible, newly diagnosed myeloma.

What connects it all is the sustained, demanding work of translation: from trial results to clinical practice, from abstract to patient encounter, from approval to appropriate use. Oncology pharmacists are not peripheral to that process. They are inside it—managing the protocols that put these agents into practice, educating patients who will live with their effects, and flagging the nuances that registration data cannot fully capture.