Key Takeaways:
AKESO (09926.HK) presented more than 40 clinical studies at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, sending its shares up 9.2% at the open on Monday.
"The datasets featured at 2026 ASCO primarily highlight our core first-in-class bispecific antibodies — cadonilimab and ivonescimab — along with other novel therapeutic antibodies," AKESO said in a statement. The company presented data across multiple tumor types including non-small cell lung cancer, small-cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, renal cell carcinoma, melanoma, head and neck cancer, gynecologic malignancies and biliary tract cancer.
Shares opened at HKD129, with 2.8 million shares traded in pre-market block deals worth HKD362 million. The presentations covered the company's lead bispecific candidates: cadonilimab, a PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody, and ivonescimab, a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody, as well as ligufalimab, a next-generation CD47 monoclonal antibody.
The breadth of data positions AKESO's pipeline among the most extensive presented at this year's ASCO meeting, which runs from May 29 through June 1 in Chicago. Several of the datasets were described by the company as potentially practice-changing, spanning both first-line and later-line treatment settings across solid tumors.
The strong clinical showing comes as ASCO 2026 features several high-profile readouts, including Servier's extended follow-up data for VORANIGO in IDH-mutant glioma showing median progression-free survival of 44.1 months, and Revolution Medicines' daraxonrasib data in pancreatic cancer demonstrating a median survival of 13.2 months. AKESO's broad dataset across multiple indications differentiates it from single-asset readouts at the conference.
The 9.2% opening surge adds to AKESO's year-to-date gains and reflects investor confidence in the company's bispecific antibody platform. The next catalyst for AKESO will be regulatory updates and potential partnership discussions emerging from the ASCO presentations, as well as any data disclosures from ongoing pivotal trials for cadonilimab and ivonescimab.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
