As the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting of 2026 has drawn to a close, experts are still sifting through the mountain of data presented at the conference.
Among that is data on novel cell therapy approaches, including in vivo cell therapies, which are showing promise in blood and skin cancer.
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Lilly’s Kelonia investment is well placed
Lilly’s faith in Kelonia Therapeutics appears to be well placed after the company debuted data for its in vivo CAR-T therapy, KLN-1010, in patients with multiple myeloma.
In a Phase I inMMyCAR trial (NCT07075185), there was a 100% overall response rate (ORR) and minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative bone marrow at one month post treatment in all 18 evaluable patients.
The first patient treated remains in deep, ongoing MRD-negative response beyond 10 months. There are six patients with more than four months of follow up, with four achieving stringent complete response (sCR) and two very good partial response (VGPR), all with ongoing MRD-negative bone marrows.
The drug has elicited robust generation and sustained persistence of CAR-T cells in the peripheral blood and bone marrow exceeding what is typically seen with ex vivo CAR-T therapies.
Kelonia added that there remain continued favourable safety and tolerability profiles. In total, 16 of 18 patients experienced cytokine release syndrome (CRS), with all events being Grade 1-2 in severity. One Grade 1 and one Grade 3 immune effector-cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) event were also observed in the study.
inMMyCAR investigator, Professor Joy Ho, of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia, said: “Early data from Kelonia’s lead in vivo CAR-T programme continues to demonstrate highly encouraging responses in additional patients, with the benefit of extended follow-up revealing a consistent pattern of strong clinical responses over time, and a continued favourable safety profile. The persistent generation of CAR-T cells observed across the expanded cohort reinforces the potential of KLN-1010 to make a meaningful difference for multiple myeloma patients.”
Eli Lilly’s proposed acquisition of Kelonia Therapeutics was announced in April 2026 and is pending transaction close. Lilly is set to pay up to $7bn to shareholders, which includes a $3.25bn upfront payment.
Strand’s preclinical in vivo approach also showing promise
Following a $135m raise last year, Strand Therapeutics has debuted data from its preclinical in vivo approach at ASCO 2026.
The ASCO data demonstrates that Strand’s programmable EverScript circular RNA (circRNA), combined with a targeted lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery approach, can generate functional CAR-T cells in vivo following intravenous administration, achieving robust target cell elimination across humanised mouse models and non-human primates.
Its initial programme, STX-001, an intratumorally delivered LNP-encapsulated self-replicating RNA expressing IL-12, already demonstrated preliminary evidence of systemic immune activation and anti-tumour activity in patients with advanced solid tumours who have progressed on prior therapies.
Building on this early clinical validation, intravenously delivered STX-003 is designed for tumour-targeted expression and avoidance of off-target expression.
Dr Jake Becraft, co-founder and CEO of Strand Therapeutics, said: “Generating functional CAR-T cells inside the body has been a long-standing goal for the field, and the data show we can do it with delivery precision and programmable safety controls it requires. In vivo CAR-T is a natural extension of what we have been building, and the NHP data is exactly the kind of validation that moves this programme forward.”
Immunocore selects Phase III dose
Immunocore Holdings’ ImmTAC (Immune-mobilising monoclonal T-cell Receptor Against Cancer), brenetafusp, another in vivo therapy, has shown Phase I promise in data released at ASCO.
In the Phase I/II study (NCT04262466), brenetafusp was investigated in patients with heavily pretreated advanced melanoma.
In the 66 patients treated with brenetafusp monotherapy, the median overall survival (OS) was 14.3 months with an OS rate of 87% at six months and 57% at 12 months. The disease control rate (DCR) was 52%, while the overall response rate (ORR) was 12%.
The 160 mcg dose showed the most promise, with this dose set to be evaluated in an ongoing Phase III trial of brenetafusp plus Opdivo (nivolumab) compared to standard Opdivo regimens (NCT06112314) in first-line advanced melanoma.
Brenetafusp was generally well tolerated, showing a predictable, mechanism-driven safety profile as monotherapy and in combination. The most common treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) included CRS, rash, pyrexia, chills, fatigue, decreased lymphocyte count, nausea, and pruritus.
“Patients with advanced melanoma who progress on anti-PD-1 therapy have limited options, and seeing meaningful disease control in heavily pretreated patients is genuinely promising. These results support continued evaluation of brenetafusp in advanced melanoma,” said Professor Georgina Long, medical director, Melanoma Institute Australia at the University of Sydney.
