Breaking News
admin
Apr 25 2025
1This Friday, Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center will become the epicenter of groundbreaking oncology research as the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) hosts its 2025 annual meeting. The event is expected to feature high-impact data presentations with potential to reshape cancer treatment, particularly for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
One of the most closely watched presentations is Merck’s Phase III KEYNOTE-689 trial, evaluating its PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda in patients with HNSCC. Although Merck shared preliminary results in October 2024—highlighting significant improvements in event-free survival and a promising trend toward enhanced overall survival—the full dataset has yet to be disclosed.
According to analysts at William Blair, the forthcoming detailed findings could influence the broader HNSCC treatment arena. “Merck’s Keynote-689 will have some impact on the head and neck cancer landscape/market opportunity,” analyst Matt Phipps noted. Other companies developing treatments in this space, such as Merus with its bispecific antibody petosemtamab and Exelixis with the oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor zanzalintinib, may see ripple effects from the data r
Lung cancer research will also take center stage at AACR. Boehringer Ingelheim’s Beamion LUNG-1 trial will share updated results for zongertinib, a HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor for NSCLC. A previous Phase Ib readout in September 2024 reported a 66.7% objective response rate and tumor reduction in 94% of treated patients. AACR President-elect Lillian Siu, a senior oncologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, described the upcoming data as potentially “practice-changing.”
Beyond individual cancers, AACR 2025 will spotlight innovative therapeutic modalities that could redefine oncology treatment strategies. Among them are VEGF-PD(L)1 bispecific antibodies, which gained attention in September 2024 when Summit Therapeutics and Akeso announced that ivonescimab outperformed Keytruda in frontline NSCLC treatment.
New findings continue to bolster enthusiasm. Just this week, the partners reported superior progression-free survival for ivonescimab over BeiGene’s Tevimbra in NSCLC patients. The momentum has led to an influx of VEGF-targeting bispecific and trispecific agents, with at least 13 expected to present data at AACR. These include Hangzhou DAC Biotechnology’s DXA023-G017 and a bispecific combined with an antibody-drug conjugate payload.
However, despite growing interest, many of these assets remain in preclinical development. Christiana Bardon, co-managing partner at MPM BioImpact, emphasized their potential to disrupt the treatment landscape—if they prove effective in further trials.
The TIGIT inhibitor space, once considered promising, has experienced notable setbacks. In March 2025, BeiGene discontinued ociperlimab following disappointing Phase III results that indicated the therapy was unlikely to meet its survival endpoint in NSCLC. Even more prominently, Roche’s tiragolumab failed to improve overall survival in the Phase III SKYSCRAPER-01 trial for advanced NSCLC, as reported in November 2024.
Although Roche withheld specific data at the time, a comprehensive readout is expected at AACR. Analyst Matt Phipps suggested these details could clarify whether there’s still viable potential in targeting TIGIT: “We know the trial failed, but are there reasons that can be gleaned that might allow others to still succeed with this target?”
Other players, including Gilead and Arcus, remain active in this field. Their anti-TIGIT therapy domvanalimab, in combination with zimberelimab (a PD-1 inhibitor), showed statistically significant improvements in both progression-free and overall survival in NSCLC during late 2024. The same combination is now being explored in HNSCC, with mid-stage results set for presentation at AACR.
With multiple readouts across key tumor types and therapeutic approaches, AACR 2025 could prove to be a pivotal moment in the evolution of cancer treatment.
Source:https://www.biospace.com/drug-development/merck-boehringer-ingelheim-more-to-present-key-data-at-aacr-25
This is non-financial/medical advice and made using AI so could be wrong.
