On May 19, 2026 Veracyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCYT) reported that the company will be participating in the following investor conferences.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

William Blair 46th Annual Growth Stock Conference – Chicago, IL
Presentation on Tuesday, June 2nd at 2:00 p.m. Central Time
2026 Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference – New York, NY
Fireside chat on Thursday, June 4th at 8:10 a.m. Eastern Time

Live audio webcasts of the company’s presentations will be available by visiting Veracyte’s website at View Source Replays of the webcasts will be available for 90 days after each live presentation broadcast.

(Press release, Veracyte, MAY 19, 2026, View Source [SID1234665866])

On May 19, 2026 Amplia Therapeutics Limited (ASX:ATX; OTCQB:INNMF), ("Amplia" or the "Company"), reported that it is initiating a Phase 2b study of narmafotinib in pancreatic cancer exploring a new dosing regimen. Designed in alignment with FDA feedback, the study will form the basis – and first stage – of a registrational study in this indication given the high existing unmet need for innovative treatments. Narmafotinib is a best-in-class FAK inhibitor that has received orphan drug designation and fast track designation from the U.S. FDA as a potential treatment in pancreatic cancer.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"To-date narmafotinib has shown no significant tolerability burden over chemotherapy alone, and we have observed a range of compelling efficacy signals across responses and survival. This has been achieved with only an intermittent dosing schedule, giving us confidence that moving into daily dosing may further enhance the therapeutic potential of narmafotinib", said Dr Chris Burns, CEO and Managing Director of Amplia. "We have been able to accelerate this phase of the narmafotinib program with redeployed resources, including drug product, following the wind-down of recruitment in the AMPLICITY trial. We believe our registrational study submission to the FDA will be stronger for the inclusion of this portion of the Phase 2b study and we look forward to further engagement with regulators."

The study will investigate, for the first time, a daily dosing schedule for narmafotinib, at two dosing levels, with the chemotherapies gemcitabine and Abraxane in newly diagnosed advanced pancreatic cancer patients. In this first stage, each dosing cohort will have 6 patients (12 patients in total), which will be combined with gemcitabine and Abraxane given on their conventional schedule. In addition to safety and tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK) and efficacy will be assessed. Exploratory endpoints will include effects on disease biomarkers as well as effects on fibrosis, a key indicator of FAK activity. The study will enroll patients across 3-4 sites in Australia. The Company anticipates patient enrolment will begin by the fourth quarter of this year with the safety, tolerability and PK assessment for the 12 patients completed in the second quarter of 2027.

(Press release, Amplia Therapeutics, MAY 19, 2026, View Source [SID1234665883])

On May 19, 2026 Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) reported that the company has entered into a clinical development collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, to supply KEYTRUDA QLEX (pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph) injection for subcutaneous administration in combination with zanzalintinib in STELLAR-316, a planned phase 3 pivotal trial in patients with resected stage II/III colorectal cancer (CRC). Under the terms of the clinical development collaboration with Merck, Exelixis is sponsoring the STELLAR-316 pivotal trial, and Merck will supply KEYTRUDA QLEX.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"This collaboration with Merck for the STELLAR-316 trial reflects the continued progress of the zanzalintinib clinical development program and is an important step forward in our efforts to advance a potentially new treatment option that may help prevent or delay metastatic progression for patients with resected colorectal cancer," said Dana T. Aftab, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Research and Development, Exelixis. "We look forward to initiating the clinical trial to evaluate this novel combination, with the goal of enhancing treatment strategies and meaningfully improving clinical outcomes for patients with this form of cancer who face a high risk of recurrence."

STELLAR-316 is a planned phase 3 pivotal trial that will evaluate zanzalintinib with and without KEYTRUDA QLEX in patients with resected stage II/III CRC who, following definitive therapy, have tested positive for molecular residual disease (MRD+) and have no radiographic evidence of disease. The primary endpoint of the trial will be disease-free survival, with key secondary endpoints including circulating tumor DNA clearance. In January 2026, Exelixis announced a collaboration with Natera, a global leader in cell-free DNA and precision medicine, for STELLAR-316. Natera will provide its Signatera assay to identify MRD+ patients for trial enrollment. Exelixis expects to initiate STELLAR-316 in mid-2026.

About CRC

CRC is the third most common cancer and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S.1 Approximately 159,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2026, with around 55,000 expected deaths from the disease.1 CRC is most frequently diagnosed among people aged 65-74 and is more common in men and in people of non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native descent.2 Nearly a quarter of CRC cases are diagnosed at the metastatic stage, at which point the five-year survival rate is around just 15%.1,2 The liver is the most common site for CRC metastasis. Liver metastases significantly impact survival, with a median five-year survival rate of less than 14% when treated with palliative chemotherapy.3

About Zanzalintinib

Zanzalintinib is a novel oral kinase inhibitor that inhibits the activity of the TAM kinases (TYRO3, AXL, MER), MET and VEGF receptors. These kinases play important roles in oncogenic processes, including tumor cell proliferation, metastasis, angiogenesis, drug resistance and evasion of antitumor immunity. The zanzalintinib development program includes a series of ongoing and planned pivotal trials to explore its therapeutic potential in CRC, clear cell and non-clear cell renal cell carcinoma, and neuroendocrine tumors, as well as earlier-stage trials in meningioma, lung cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer.

In February 2026, Exelixis announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the company’s New Drug Application for zanzalintinib, in combination with atezolizumab (Tecentriq), for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic CRC who have been previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, and, if RAS wild-type, an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy. The FDA assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act target action date of December 3, 2026.

Zanzalintinib is an investigational agent that is not approved for any use and is the subject of ongoing clinical trials.

(Press release, Exelixis, MAY 19, 2026, https://ir.exelixis.com/news-releases/news-release-details/exelixis-announces-clinical-development-collaboration-merck [SID1234665868])

On May 19, 2026 Sensome, the pioneer of microsensing technology for real-time, intra-operative tissue analysis, reported positive results from its first-in-human INSPECT study evaluating its microsensor technology integrated into a smart stylet for bronchoscopic lung biopsy. The study showed that Sensome’s tumor detection technology safely and accurately identified and differentiated between cancerous tissue and healthy tissue. The study was presented today by Amir Hanna, MD, Interventional Pulmonologist and Principal Investigator of the INSPECT study for Marie-Lannelongue Hospital, France at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) in Orlando, Florida.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Lead author Dr. Hanna commented, "In this early study, the smart stylet accurately identified lesions or cancer amid the complex conditions of in situ lung tissue. With the learning curves of the technology’s algorithm suggesting the potential to exceed 90% overall performance,1 these results show clear promise for real-time decision support during lung biopsy. By confirming relevant sampling sites and tool-in-lesion, this technology holds promise to significantly boost biopsy diagnostic yield and shorten the path to lung cancer diagnosis and treatment."

Lung cancer is the most common and deadly cancer in the world, killing almost two million people globally each year. Detection of lung cancer in its early stages dramatically improves the five-year survival rate of patients when compared to late-stage detection. However, lung cancer is challenging to diagnose today with conventional methods, with an up to 58% failure rate in obtaining a successful biopsy,2 which causes repeat procedures and treatment delays of up to six months.3

Sensome’s technology is intended to confirm placement of a biopsy tool within a tumor during bronchoscopic biopsy of endobronchial and peripheral tumors without reliance on additional imaging modalities, which are not able to identify cancerous tissue. The novel tool-in-lesion system is designed to guide the bronchoscopist in precisely locating optimal biopsy sites, with the goal of reducing delays in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

INSPECT Study Results

The INSPECT study is a first-in-human, multi-center, single-arm study of 27 patients across Australia and France. In each case, the smart stylet was placed inside the biopsy needle and tissue readings were taken immediately prior to biopsy of each patient, with histopathology confirming accuracy of the measurement. Results were validated using cross-validation.

In the study, not only was the smart stylet able to differentiate between cancer and healthy tissue, but it also differentiated cancer from other non-cancerous tissue, such as necrotic tissue. With a dataset of only 27 patients, the Sensome technology demonstrated 80.9% accuracy in differentiating healthy from abnormal lung tissue—achieving sensitivity of 88.5% and specificity of 71.4%—and 78.7% accuracy when differentiating cancer from all other types of tissues—achieving sensitivity of 78.3% and specificity of 79.2%.1

"Lung cancer screening programs have commenced around the world, resulting in an explosion of demand for lung cancer biopsies. It is important that we have the tools that will enable us to respond to this new flood of patients with timely and accurate diagnosis," said Associate Professor David Fielding, Director of Thoracic Medicine at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Australia and Principal Investigator of the INSPECT study. "The results from the INSPECT study suggest that Sensome’s smart stylet has the potential to provide this, especially as it integrates well into our existing workflow."

"We have developed a tool designed to assist clinicians in the moment of action, to ensure they are performing a biopsy of the cancerous tumor and not healthy or other non-cancerous tissue; a biopsy of non-cancerous tissue is not useful in arriving at a diagnosis. Our goal is to eliminate the trial and error associated with mistakenly performing biopsy on tissue that delays cancer diagnosis and treatment," said Sensome CEO Franz Bozsak. "Our technology works just like a conventional stylet used in biopsy today, except we have made it ‘smart’ with the integration of our sensor into the device, which provides biological intelligence. We are very encouraged by the positive results seen in this feasibility study and expect to see even greater accuracy from our technology in the future as its algorithms learn and improve from the additional patient data we will gather."

(Press release, Sensome, MAY 19, 2026, View Source [SID1234665884])

On May 18, 2026 Akiram Therapeutics, a Swedish biotech company specializing in targeted radiotherapy, reported that cohort 2b in the ongoing Phase I clinical trial evaluating the drug candidate 177Lu-AKIR001 has been completed. Following the safety review, the study has advanced to cohort 3. The results continue to support a favorable safety profile, enabling further dose escalation and evaluation of higher activity levels according to the study protocol.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The trial is conducted at Karolinska University Hospital, which also serves as the study sponsor, and is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic profile of the drug candidate.

In cohort 2b, the protein dose was evaluated while maintaining the same activity level as in the previous cohort. Following review of the cohort 2b data, the Safety Review Committee approved continued dose escalation, allowing the study to proceed to cohort 3.

Across the cohorts evaluated to date, no dose-limiting toxicities have been observed, and imaging data have demonstrated selective tumor uptake and accumulation in tumor tissue in treated patients. Several patients have also received repeat treatment based on medical assessment, further supporting the tolerability, manageability, and feasibility of repeated administration. Taken together, the findings support continued clinical evaluation in the ongoing trial.

Akiram’s drug candidate 177Lu-AKIR001 is a targeted radiopharmaceutical that combines an antibody directed against CD44v6 — a cancer marker associated with several aggressive tumor types — with the therapeutic radioisotope lutetium-177. Through this mechanism, radiation can be delivered selectively to tumor cells while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue.

"Advancing to cohort 3 marks an important step in our clinical development program. The results support further evaluation of dose levels, and the next stage will be central to further defining dosing parameters and treatment characteristics ahead of future stages of development," says Marika Nestor, CEO of Akiram Therapeutics.

"The decision to proceed to cohort 3 follows a thorough safety evaluation. We look forward to continuing the study and collecting additional clinical data," says Dr. Luigi De Petris, Principal Investigator at Karolinska University Hospital.

The trial enrolls patients with CD44v6-positive solid tumors who currently lack available treatment options.

The project is the result of a successful national collaboration between leading clinical and academic institutions in precision oncology and has been supported by the Swedish Cancer Society, the Sjöberg Foundation, the Erling-Persson Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, and Vinnova, Sweden’s Innovation Agency.

The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT06639191.

(Press release, Akiram Therapeutics, MAY 18, 2026, View Source [SID1234665817])