What will ASCO 2026 reveal about oncology innovation’s new global map?

As oncology innovation becomes more global, pharma’s traditional operating model is being disrupted in real time. The companies moving fastest are aligning R&D, communications, and commercial strategy earlier than ever before.

At last year’s ASCO, the world’s most important oncology conference, Truist Securities analysts noted a striking shift: nearly one in three presentations involved an asset that originated in China.¹

Not manufactured in China. Invented in China. First-in-class molecules. Novel mechanisms with clinical data shaping the agenda, rather than following it.

The remarkable thing is not simply the scale of the shift, but the extent to which oncology innovation is becoming more globally distributed. As ASCO 2026 approaches, the trend is reshaping assumptions that have underpinned the industry for decades.

The pattern isn’t new

In the 1970s, Detroit’s Big Three carmakers operated within a market that was becoming increasingly global and competitive. Over time, the competitive model evolved alongside changing consumer expectations, manufacturing systems, and international supply chains.

In some respects, pharma today faces a similarly important inflection point. Innovation, regulation, and commercialisation are becoming more interconnected across global markets.

For years, the FDA acted as the defining commercial gateway, with access to the US market underpinning investment, scale, and global influence. That system still matters enormously. But it no longer operates in isolation from the wider shift taking place across Asia and other growth markets.

Innovation is becoming more globally distributed

Recent data illustrates the scale of the shift.

In 2015, fewer than 350 innovative drugs were developed in China. By 2024, that figure had risen to more than 1,250, overtaking Europe.²

Over the same period, China’s regulator reduced average review timelines from 663 days to 105. That acceleration is beginning to reshape the pace of development and approval activity globally. China approved 83 new drugs in 2024, compared to 45 in 2020.

According to Morgan Stanley, drugs originating from China could account for more than a third of FDA approvals by 2040, up from just 5% in 2025.

The implications are already visible in the deal market. In the first half of 2025, 32% of all global pharmaceutical out-licensing deals involved Chinese-originated assets. By year-end, total Chinese out-licensing exceeded $130 billion, a tenfold increase from 2021.

Meanwhile, the share of oncology trial sponsorship for pharma headquartered in the EU and US is falling – dropping from 59% in 2014 to 28% in 2023. The gap is increasingly being filled by a broader mix of biotechnology companies and regional innovation hubs participating more actively in global development pipelines.

The adaptive advantage

The easiest response is to frame this purely as a science race. That misses the more important shift.

Traditional pharma still possesses extraordinary scientific capability, deep regulatory expertise, global commercial infrastructure, and some of the strongest research talent in the world. The challenge is how quickly operating models can evolve alongside increasingly more global and interconnected innovation ecosystems.

The companies moving fastest today are shortening the distance between discovery, communications, market access, and physician engagement. Clinical data isn’t handed over from one department to another in sequence. Narrative development begins earlier. Localisation happens faster. Commercial teams respond to market signals while they are still emerging, rather than after the annual planning cycle has finished.

That difference in rhythm matters.

In established pharma, science often moves quicker than the systems surrounding it. Medical, communications, and commercial functions operate on different timelines, with different datasets and different definitions of success. The disconnect can slow companies down.

Newer biotechs have been built differently. They integrate commercialisation planning earlier, adapt content and physician engagement market by market, and use real-world signals more dynamically once products are in-market.

None of this is beyond reach. In fact, much of the capability already exists internally and across partner ecosystems. What’s required is greater coordination and a willingness to rethink default practices.

That has implications for communications agencies too.

The value of health communications is shifting away from isolated campaign delivery toward connected intelligence: understanding how scientific narrative, physician behaviour, media environments, patient pathways, market access, and large language models (LLMs) interact in real time.

The organisations that can connect those dots fastest will become the most valuable strategic partners in an increasingly complex global environment.

The next operating model

This is why the comparison with Detroit still matters, although, perhaps not for the reasons people assume.

The automotive industry eventually adapted, and American manufacturers remain some of the most important companies in the world. But the challenge was reshaping organisational models quickly enough to match the pace of change around them.

Pharma is now navigating a similar environment, where oncology innovation follows a more global map.

The organisations best positioned to succeed will be those that can seamlessly, and rapidly, connect scientific innovation, communications, market access, physician engagement, and real-world intelligence.

Adaptive operating models, enabled by AI, data, and connected intelligence, will shape how quickly breakthrough medicines reach patients around the world.

The next leaders in oncology will be the ones built to adapt in real time.

References

1. Data: Truist Securities / BioSpace (May 2025); Jefferies / STAT News (H1 2025); Morgan Stanley China Healthcare (Oct 2025); A&O Shearman Life Sciences (Apr 2026); IQVIA / ARC Group (2025); DIP-AI citing NMPA data (2026).
2. Norstella, Bloomberg, 14 Jul 2025.

About the author

Claire Gillis is CEO of VML Health, a global health communications network. She is a scientist, health economist, entrepreneur, and business leader, with an academic foundation in pharmacology. Her campaigning for health equity has awarded her The Women in Marketing Leadership Award for contributions to Health and Wellness and she has also been included in the HERoes women role model lists from Yahoo Finance.