Advances in cancer research will be in the spotlight as the American Society of Clinical Oncology hosts the world’s largest cancer research conference in Chicago starting Thursday. Investors have already gotten a glimpse of the topics that will be covered, but many are eagerly awaiting the details behind the abstracts, and little doubt there will be surprises. An immunotherapy often known as CAR-T, for therapy with chimeric T-cell antigen receptors, will be in the spotlight because it has been in recent years. This class of treatment involves taking immune cells from a patient, altering them to fight a particular style of cancer, and putting them back into the body. Andy Acker, Portfolio Manager at Janus Henderson, caused a stir around one CAR-T therapy, Carvykti, Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech, for the treatment of multiple myeloma. In keeping with data leaked from the study, the treatment reduced the risk of cancer or disease progression by 74% compared with current treatments in patients who had previously failed other treatments. “It’s type of an incredible profit,” Acker said. “…Mainly, this implies you quadruple progression-free survival, so…in other words, you’ll be able to potentially go years without reoccurrence.” Johnson & Johnson shares have fallen nearly 13% since the start of the 12 months, but US-listed Legend shares have gained around 26%. In keeping with FactSet, analysts have a median price goal for Legend shares of $81, up 28% from Friday’s close. Carvykti’s first-quarter sales totaled $72 million, and Piper Sandler predicts sales to achieve $366 million in 2023. If ASCO figures are positive, Carvykti could put Carvykti in a showdown with Bristol-Myers Squibb-based competitor Abecma. “Smart Chemotherapy” Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) will even be the focus of the meeting. In a late-April research report, Morgan Stanley said that ADCs, also often known as “smart chemotherapy,” could replace traditional chemotherapy and unlock a market price greater than $140 billion over the next 15 years. That is a rise from a base of $5 billion last 12 months, the bank said. ADC treatment uses antibodies to more accurately goal cancer cells. In this manner, healthy tissue is spared and mortality is reduced. ADCs normally link an antibody that has been designed to screen for specific varieties of cancer linked via a linking component to toxic chemotherapy. Earlier generations of those drugs struggled if all or any of the three ingredients failed. For instance, sometimes the linking component didn’t adequately protect the chemotherapy payload to the antibody. But the next generation of ADC therapy guarantees to unravel these problems. There was an explosion of treatments in space as some firms have developed a technology platform that will be used in a wide selection of applications. “We expect positive clinical trial data over the next 12 months to lift investor awareness of the potential and boost valuations of key ADC players,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote. They consider that each the buying side and the selling side haven’t “properly quantified” ADC capabilities. Morgan Stanley cited data from Beacon Intelligence that claims 1,567 programs are in development, with much of that activity coming from Asian firms including Daiichi Sankyo, Kelun Biotech, RemeGen, LegoChem and Lepu Biopharma. In keeping with Janus Acker, AstraZeneca and its partner Daiichi Sankyo are quickly catching up with Seagen, one among the leaders in the region. The pair have already obtained regulatory approval for Enhertu for low HER2 metastatic breast cancer, but the firms are also investigating its use for various other HER2 breast cancers. Up-to-date information on these studies will be made available at ASCO. Morgan Stanley expects Enhertu to develop into the “poster child” of current ADC drugs, with potential revenues of over $6 billion. In keeping with FactSet, 83% of AstraZeneca’s analysts rate the stock as a buy, with the rest rated as a hold. The $83 average price goal is up 14% from where the stock closed on Friday. Kisqali Shows Promise for Breast Cancer Treatment Novartis shares saw a surge in late March when it revealed that Kisqali, its breast cancer drug, significantly reduced the possibilities of the disease spreading when used after surgery together with hormone therapy. More details in ASCO will help investors assess how much of a threat Kisqali, a CDK4/6 inhibitor, poses to competing therapies from Pfizer and Eli Lilly. NVS YTD mountain Novartis shares are up almost 8% since the starting of the 12 months. Lilly’s drug, Verzenio, is used in high-risk patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who are more more likely to come back and have already invaded the patient’s lymph nodes. Nevertheless, Kisqali will be used to treat a population that’s two to thrice that size, in keeping with Novartis. This includes each high and intermediate risk patients who may benefit from treatment even when their lymph nodes weren’t affected. On this app, some analysts see a sales opportunity of as much as $6 billion. In a research note earlier this month, Guggenheim analyst Seamus Fernandez said Kisqali was already taking market share of Pfizer’s Ibrance in metastatic breast cancer. If Kisqali continues to point out good results, it is feasible that it will develop into the treatment of alternative. Matt Phipps, an analyst at William Blair, expects Bristol-Myers Squibb to get quite a lot of attention because it presents more data from the Commands study on Reblozyl, a drug for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a cancer blood group. The information has the potential to make Reblozyl a first-line treatment for MDS, giving it a bonus over Amgen and Johnson & Johnson’s Epogen/Procrit. Phipps, who has a greater rating for Bristol stock, said the key point people would monitor was whether Reblozyl worked well on patients who were RS-negative. This will help determine how widely you should utilize it. Merck’s Keytruda can be being watched for its advantages for early stage lung cancer patients. This has already modified the game for people diagnosed with more severe metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Individually, Kelun-Biotech, one among Merck’s partners, will present early-stage data from SKB264, the licensed ADC TROP-2, in addition to data from a phase 2 trial of a certain style of lung cancer. Late Ovarian Cancer Study William Blair analyst Andy Hsieh has listed Immunogen’s latest Mirasol Elahere study, attributable to be unveiled on June 4, as one other report to observe. Hsieh has an improved stock rating, up 182% year-to-date. Elahere is the first drug to point out a bonus in improving ovarian cancer survival in comparison with current standard chemotherapy. Ovarian cancer is the leading reason behind death from gynecological cancers. Every year in the United States, 20,000 people are diagnosed with it, and 13,000 patients die. Hsieh said the drug could “change practice” and key opinion leaders in the field were very “enthusiastic” about Elahere’s potential. “They showed that it may extend survival, which is the gold standard for cancer drugs,” Hsieh said. IMGN 3M mountain News of the trial sparked a surge in Immunogen stock in early May. In a May 11 research note, Canaccord Genuity analyst John Newman said Elahere sales could surpass the current consensus of $154 million this 12 months, offering “potential upside to the current share price.” “Cancer is one among the biggest unmet medical needs in the world,” said Acker, explaining that 40% of individuals will be diagnosed with some type of cancer in some unspecified time in the future in their lives. “We spend over a trillion dollars a 12 months on cancer treatments, so all these therapies that may improve the lives of cancer patients – ideally improve overall survival – you already know these are products that may really improve the lives of patients, really all of us,” he said.