ESMO 2023 preview – a few small molecules

ESMO presentations revealed so far that concern small-molecule approaches are notable for including two projects that recently made waves in phase 3. Merck & Co’s Welireg had a win in a possible label-expanding study, Litespark-005, though it is the phase 2 Litespark-013 trial in kidney cancer that features at ESMO, titles from the meeting’s non-late-breaking presentations reveal. Meanwhile, Olema’s SERD project palazestrant made waves just by going into phase 3, and investors might be keen to see more evidence to back up the logic of this move. More data on Impact’s WEE1 inhibitor IMP7068 might be of interest given that the previous leader in this space, AstraZeneca, has effectively abandoned pursuit of this mechanism of action. And of course KRAS continues to be a major draw. While Amgen and Mirati’s approved therapies battle it out, and Roche makes a valiant effort at catching up, ESMO will see data on somewhat lower-profile KRAS G12C assets, InventisBio’s garsorasib and Jacobio’s glecirasib, the latter as part of a SHP2 combo.

Selected ESMO presentations covering small molecules

The ESMO congress takes place in Madrid, Spain on 20-24 October. Full abstract texts will be published on 15 October, with late-breakers going live on 18 October.