The ESMO Gastrointestinal Cancers Congress 2026 featured several important studies that could influence the future of gastrointestinal cancer treatment, although not all findings were practice-changing. Researchers presented updates spanning colorectal, pancreatic, and liver cancers, highlighting both promising targeted therapies and trials that challenged expectations.
One of the biggest updates came from the phase 3 KRYSTAL-10 trial, where the chemotherapy-free combination of adagrasib plus cetuximab failed to outperform standard chemotherapy in patients with previously treated KRAS G12C-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer. Although the targeted combination produced a much higher response rate (47% vs. 16%), it did not improve progression-free or overall survival. Investigators noted that unexpectedly strong outcomes in the chemotherapy group, including a high rate of patients later receiving KRAS-targeted therapy, may have influenced the results and could have implications for the regimen’s accelerated FDA approval.