Story 1: Pancreatic cancer finally has a drug that works

For decades, pancreatic cancer has been one of the most resistant cancers to treat. Chemotherapy regimens have helped, but not dramatically. Survival times have barely moved.

That changed at ASCO 2026.

Revolution Medicines presented Phase III results for daraxonrasib, a drug that targets KRAS mutations, a genetic driver present in around 90% of pancreatic cancers. The results nearly doubled median overall survival compared to chemotherapy in patients who had already failed prior treatment. The presentation received a standing ovation from thousands of oncologists in the room, which almost never happens at scientific conferences.

The drug targets something scientists spent decades trying to crack. KRAS was long considered “undruggable”, a protein with no obvious place for a drug to attach. The fact that it’s now being successfully targeted, and with these results, is a genuine turning point.

For pancreatic cancer patients specifically: daraxonrasib is heading toward FDA priority review and may be available through expanded access soon.

Story 2: A Chinese-developed drug may challenge the world’s best-selling cancer therapy

Keytruda (pembrolizumab) from Merck generates over $30 billion a year and is the backbone of immunotherapy for many cancer types. A bispecific antibody called ivonescimab, developed by Summit Therapeutics and Akeso in China, showed overall survival data at ASCO that analysts are calling a potential challenge to Keytruda’s dominance, particularly in lung cancer.

This matters beyond the competitive angle. It’s the clearest signal yet that Chinese oncology companies are producing results that stand up to the most rigorous global scrutiny, not just in one trial, but across multiple.

Story 3: Cell therapy is moving out of the lab and into the clinic

The third thread running through ASCO 2026 was whether cell therapy, long considered too complex and expensive for widespread use, is finally becoming accessible.

GC101, developed by Juncell Therapeutics in Shanghai, was the only cell therapy trial selected as a breakthrough study at ASCO this year. The results in advanced melanoma patients who had failed immunotherapy were striking: 42% objective response rate versus 6.1% for chemotherapy, with a 57% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death.

What makes GC101 part of this broader story is its design. Conventional TIL therapy requires high-intensity conditioning chemotherapy and large-dose IL-2 injections, which means ICU-level infrastructure. GC101 removes both requirements. Treatment happens in a general ward. That’s not just a convenience, it’s what makes cell therapy scalable beyond a handful of specialist centres.

The lung cancer programme (MIZAR-005) has shown a 41.7% response rate in NSCLC patients who had already failed a median of three prior lines of treatment.

What this means together

Three different mechanisms. Three different cancer types. But a common thread: treatments that were considered impossible or impractical five years ago are now producing Phase III results.

For patients with advanced cancer who have been told the options are limited, these results are a reminder that the landscape changes faster than any single oncologist’s protocol can keep up with.

The question isn’t whether new options exist. It’s whether the people who need them know about them in time.

CancerPath helps international patients understand and access TIL cell therapy. Free eligibility assessments at cancerpath.netlify.app

Sources: ASCO 2026 presentations. Revolution Medicines RASolute 302 Phase III. Juncell Therapeutics MIZAR-003 LBA 9509. Individual results vary.

It was GC101. A TIL therapy developed by a Shanghai company called Juncell Therapeutics. And the results were, in the words of one international expert in the room, “unbelievable.”

What the study actually showed

The trial enrolled patients with advanced melanoma who had already failed immunotherapy and other treatments. These were people who had run out of standard options. The kind of patients who are often told there’s nothing left.

Half received GC101. Half received chemotherapy.

In the GC101 group, 42% of patients had a meaningful tumour response. In the chemotherapy group, 6.1% did.

The risk of disease progression or death was 57% lower in the GC101 group. Median progression-free survival was 4.3 months versus 1.6 months for chemotherapy.

These are not small differences.

Why this is different from other immunotherapies

Most patients with advanced cancer have already tried immunotherapy — checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab or nivolumab. When those stop working, the options get very limited very fast.

TIL therapy works differently. Instead of broadly activating the immune system, it extracts T cells that are already living inside the tumour itself — cells that have already learned to recognise that specific cancer — grows them into the billions in a lab, and puts them back.

What makes GC101 specifically unusual is that it does this without the high-intensity conditioning chemotherapy and without the high-dose IL-2 injections that conventional TIL therapy requires. The original version of TIL therapy, approved in the US in 2024, needs patients to go through intensive pre-treatment that often requires ICU support. GC101 patients are treated in a general ward.

This matters not just for safety. It means more patients can access it.

What this means beyond melanoma

The reason melanoma tends to lead in immunotherapy research is that it responds well and results come faster. But TIL therapy is not only being studied in melanoma.

Juncell’s NSCLC programme (MIZAR-005) has shown a 41.7% objective response rate in lung cancer patients who had failed a median of three prior lines of treatment. That data was presented before this week’s ASCO results, and the melanoma results now give further weight to the underlying technology.

The researchers are explicit about the direction: they see this as a starting point, not a ceiling. The goal is to move TIL therapy earlier in treatment — potentially as first or second line rather than last resort — and to expand across solid tumour types.

What this means practically for patients right now

GC101 is not yet approved in most countries. In China, it is currently accessible to international patients through Hainan’s Boao Lecheng medical pilot zone, which allows advanced therapies ahead of full regulatory approval. Two short trips to China are required — tissue collection in Shanghai, and cell infusion in Hainan around five to six weeks later. Total time in China is approximately five to six days.

The ASCO results will accelerate the path to formal approval. But for patients who cannot wait, access exists now.

A note on what “no more options” actually means

One of the things that comes up again and again in the stories of patients who found GC101 is that they were told there was nothing left before they found it.

“Nothing left” usually means nothing left in that hospital’s standard protocol. It doesn’t mean nothing exists in the world.

The ASCO results this week are one more data point that the world has more to offer than any single oncologist’s protocol. For anyone facing that conversation — or supporting someone who is — it’s worth knowing that.

CancerPath helps international patients understand and access TIL cell therapy. Free eligibility assessments available at cancerpath.netlify.app

Clinical data: Lu S., et al. ASCO 2026. LBA 9509. Individual results vary.

This year, among 63 LBA selections globally, only one came from a cell therapy company.

That company is Juncell Therapeutics (juncell.com), a Shanghai-based biotech founded in 2019. The therapy is GC101 — described by the company as the world’s first TIL cell therapy that requires neither high-intensity lymphodepletion chemotherapy nor IL-2 administration.

What is TIL Therapy?

TIL stands for Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes — immune cells that naturally exist inside a patient’s own tumor. They already know how to recognize the cancer. The problem is that the tumor microenvironment suppresses them.

TIL therapy works by:

1. Extracting a small tumor sample

2. Isolating and expanding TIL cells in the lab to hundreds of billions

3. Infusing them back into the patient

Unlike CAR-T therapies that target a single antigen, TIL cells recognize hundreds of different tumor targets simultaneously, making them particularly suited for solid tumors, which are highly heterogeneous.

Why Traditional TIL Therapy Has Been Limited

Traditional TIL therapy required two highly toxic components: high-dose IL-2 injections (which cause life-threatening capillary leak syndrome) and aggressive lymphodepletion chemotherapy. This meant mandatory ICU stays and restricted the treatment to only the most robust patients.

Juncell’s DeepTIL™ platform eliminates the need for high-dose IL-2 and high-intensity chemotherapy. Patients can be treated in a standard hospital ward.

The platform has been validated across more than 30 solid tumor types, with a culture success rate above 95%.

The Clinical Data

In advanced non-small cell lung cancer (patients who had failed a median of 3 prior lines of treatment):

- Objective response rate: 41.7%

- 12-month overall survival rate: 66.7%

- Median overall survival: not yet reached

In advanced melanoma (patients who had all failed PD-1 therapy):

- Objective response rate: 30%

In hard-to-treat ovarian cancer (GC203, Juncell’s next-gen gene-modified TIL):

- Objective response rate: 33.3%

- Complete response rate: 11.1%

- 1-year overall survival: 68.8%

Multiple patients across tumor types achieved complete tumor clearance. The longest cancer-free survival now exceeds four years.

Three Proprietary Platforms

Juncell has built three technology platforms:

DeepTIL™ — natural TIL enrichment and expansion. No feeder cells required, lower cost, no high-intensity lymphodepletion, no IL-2.

NovaGMP™ — non-viral gene modification. Average modification efficiency above 45%, viability above 90%, substantially lower cost than viral vector systems.

RiverTIL™ — in vivo TIL platform. Pre-manufacture and cryopreserve TIL seed cells from a patient’s tumor for future on-demand use, enabling rapid in vivo expansion after infusion.

The Global Context

Earlier this year, US-based Obsidian Therapeutics, pursuing a similar “IL-2-free” TIL approach via gene engineering, completed a reverse merger at a $413.5M valuation, raising $350M from global investors.

This validates “IL-2-free” as the direction the entire TIL field is moving.

The key difference: Obsidian is still in early clinical stages. Juncell’s GC101 has completed Phase II enrollment in melanoma, with an NDA filing planned for 2026, potentially making it China’s first approved TIL therapy.

What Comes Next

GC101’s ASCO LBA oral presentation will take place May 29 – June 2, 2026, in Chicago. This will be the global first disclosure of the pivotal dataset.

GC101 clinical trials are currently enrolling in China for multiple solid tumor types.

Contact: clinicaltrials@juncell.com

Learn more: juncell.com/en/clinical-trail

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*Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical or investment advice. GC101 is in clinical trial stage and has not been approved for commercial use.*