From The Works In Progress Newsletter, June 12:
The most effective weight-loss drug so far, cancer breakthroughs, gene editing for cholesterol, ancestral CRISPR systems, and more.
We’ve been writing regular round ups for a little while now, but so much has happened recently that this month’s post feels like it contains a year’s worth of breakthroughs. So pour yourself something cool, get cosy, and enjoy!
First, everything new in cancer. In our round up last month, we shared the news of daraxonrasib, the new breakthrough drug that roughly doubles survival in late-stage pancreatic cancer, which has long been considered untreatable.
This past week, however, there were results from many more major cancer trials presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference (ASCO 2026), and we wanted to share some highlights.1
One presentation showed 7 year results for lorlatinib, a precision drug for metastatic lung cancers: specifically, a type (ALK-positive) that’s common in non-smokers. You rarely see a survival curve like it. 55 percent of patients were still progression-free after 7 years, versus just 3 percent on the older drug crizotinib....
....MUCH MORE
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