ASCO's Opening Day Had Two Pharma Giants Swinging for the Fences

The safety profile also looked consistent with what researchers had seen before. No nasty surprises, which matters a lot when you're adding a third drug to an already intense regimen.

Why This Matters Beyond the Data Slide

BMS isn't just developing mezigdomide for fun. The company is in the middle of a massive strategic pivot in multiple myeloma. Its old cash cow, Revlimid (lenalidomide), has been losing patent protection. Revenue is declining. BMS needs the next generation of oral myeloma drugs to fill that gap, and CELMoDs are the answer.

Mezigdomide is one piece. Iberdomide, another CELMoD, is being tested in newly diagnosed myeloma and showed strong results at ASH in 2025. BMS also has data coming later in the ASCO meeting on iberdomide combined with daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone in newly diagnosed patients (oral presentation on May 31).

The vision is clear: build a full CELMoD franchise that covers patients from first diagnosis through multiple relapses. If it works, BMS could own the oral therapy backbone of myeloma treatment for the next decade. SUCCESSOR-2 is the proof point that the relapsed/refractory piece of that puzzle is real.

But the competitive landscape is brutal. BCMA-targeting bispecific antibodies (like Johnson & Johnson's teclistamab, which also had Phase 3 data presented on the same afternoon) and CAR-T cell therapies are fighting for the same patients. Myeloma is turning into one of the most crowded spaces in oncology. Being good isn't enough; you need to be clearly better, safer, or more convenient.

Pfizer's Lung Cancer Drug Just Won't Quit

Now let's talk about the other headline act. Pfizer presented seven-year follow-up data from the Phase 3 CROWN trial, testing lorlatinib (brand name Lorbrena) against crizotinib as a first-line treatment for ALK-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

Quick biology lesson: about 3-5% of lung cancers are driven by a specific genetic glitch called an ALK rearrangement. These cancers tend to hit younger, often non-smoking patients. The good news is that drugs targeting ALK work remarkably well. The question has always been: for how long?

Lorlatinib's answer, apparently, is "a really long time." Conference previews described the results as "unprecedented," with roughly 55% of patients still progression-free at seven years. To put that in perspective, most metastatic cancer treatments are measured in months, not years. Seven years of follow-up with more than half of patients still cancer-free is the kind of number that makes oncologists do a double take.

The presenting author, Tony Mok, delivered the data in an oral session on the afternoon of May 29. Pfizer's own communications noted that the update provides "continued evidence of durable benefit" and further supports lorlatinib as the guideline-recommended first choice for ALK-positive metastatic lung cancer.

The Bigger Pfizer Playbook

Lorlatinib isn't just a drug; it's a strategic anchor. After spending $43 billion to acquire Seagen in 2023, Pfizer has been retooling its entire oncology pipeline. The company needed its existing cancer drugs to keep generating revenue while newer, riskier bets mature. Lorlatinib is the reliable earner that buys Pfizer time.

And Pfizer is using that time aggressively. The company has three distinct lung cancer strategies running simultaneously:

First, lorlatinib holds down the ALK-positive niche with data so strong it's hard for competitors to dislodge.

Second, a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody called PF-08634404 is being developed as a potential new backbone for first-line treatment across broader lung cancer populations. Updated Phase 2 data were presented the following day at ASCO (May 30), and a Phase 3 trial (Symbiotic-Lung-01) is already underway.

Third, an antibody-drug conjugate called sigvotatug vedotin, targeting a protein called integrin β6, is in Phase 3 trials for both second-line and first-line lung cancer. ADCs are the hottest drug class in oncology right now, and Pfizer is leveraging Seagen's ADC expertise to push into lung cancer with this approach.

The seven-year CROWN data, then, isn't just about lorlatinib. It's about proving that Pfizer's lung cancer foundation is solid while the company builds out the rest of the house.

Opening Day's Other Big Moments

BMS and Pfizer weren't the only stories on May 29. Several other presentations set the tone for the entire meeting.

A trial called ROADS showed that implanting radiation tiles directly into the brain after tumor removal reduced local recurrence by 94% compared to standard radiation. Two-year overall survival was 61.7% versus 35.7%. Those numbers, in the world of brain metastases, are enormous.

In breast cancer, the SENOMAC trial demonstrated that surgeons can safely skip a more invasive lymph node procedure in patients with limited cancer spread. Five-year survival was virtually identical (92.9% vs 92.0%), but patients who avoided the extra surgery had fewer arm complications and better quality of life. Sometimes the best innovation is knowing when to do less.

And then there was the multicancer early detection blood test (consistent with Grail's Galleri), which produced the first randomized trial data of its kind. The test led to a 14% reduction in stage IV cancer diagnoses and caught cancers four times more often than standard methods. Specificity clocked in at 99.55%. The catch? Nobody has mortality data yet, so whether catching cancer earlier actually saves lives remains an open question.

The Takeaway: Standards Are Being Rewritten

ASCO's opening day painted a picture of oncology in transition. In myeloma, the fight is between oral drugs (CELMoDs), injectable bispecifics, and cell therapies, and BMS is placing its chips firmly on the oral side. In lung cancer, Pfizer is showing that targeted therapy can deliver genuinely long-term disease control while simultaneously building out ADC and bispecific programs for the broader patient population.

The theme connecting all of it? Translation. That's ASCO president Eric Small's word for turning scientific discoveries into treatments that work in the real world, not just in academic medical centers. Whether it's brain radiation tiles, blood-based cancer screening, or seven-year lung cancer survival data, the message from Day 1 was consistent: the science is here, and the race to deliver it to patients is accelerating.

Four more days of ASCO remain. If opening day is any indication, the rest of the meeting won't be quiet.

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