Oncology news clusters around the ESMO Congress, held October 23-27, 2026 in Madrid.1 Most coverage will focus on the clinical results. The more useful question for an investor is what it costs to be the company producing them. The best-documented case in our verified data is Summit Therapeutics, whose partner's drug ivonescimab had a good October. Its filings show a company spending heavily, earning nothing, and depending on fresh money arriving on time.
The clinical news: what happened
On October 22, 2026, a Phase III trial called HARMONi-GI1, run by Akeso, showed positive overall survival for ivonescimab plus chemotherapy against durvalumab plus chemotherapy in first-line advanced biliary tract cancer. It was selected as a Late-Breaking Abstract for the ESMO Presidential Symposium.2 The same day Summit announced ivonescimab data in 10 presentations at ESMO 2026, spanning biliary tract, thymic carcinoma, renal cell, endometrial, esophageal, gastric/GEJ, pancreatic, glioblastoma and head and neck cancers.3
Durvalumab, the comparator drug, is developed by AstraZeneca.4 AstraZeneca is a FTSE 100 member, so anyone holding a fund that tracks that index owns a slice of it. The dossier does not give a weighting, and we do not guess one.4 The same company launched ZEGFROVY (sunvozertinib) in the US on October 22. It is described as the only approved oral, single-agent targeted therapy for adults with EGFR exon 20 insertion lung cancer whose disease progressed after platinum chemotherapy.5 Mohit Manrao said the launch “marks an important step forward in our commitment to this patient community.”5
The money: what Summit's filings show
Summit had zero revenue in both FY2023 and FY2024.6 Its losses over the three years we hold are large and uneven. Net loss was $614.9 million in FY2023, $221.3 million in FY2024 and $1,079.6 million in FY2025. Loss per share was $0.99, $0.31 and $1.44 respectively.6 The FY2025 loss is about 4.9 times the previous year's, by our arithmetic.
Cash actually leaving the business is a different and smaller number. Operating cash flow was negative $76.8 million in FY2023, negative $142.1 million in FY2024 and negative $322.9 million in FY2025.6 The gap between a $1.08 billion loss and a $322.9 million cash outflow means much of the FY2025 loss did not involve cash leaving that year. The dossier does not say why, so we will not guess. Readers should treat the headline loss and the cash burn as two separate measures.
The burn rate matters because of the cash on hand. Summit held $71.4 million at the end of FY2023, $104.9 million at FY2024 and $225.3 million at FY2025.6 The quarterly path is jagged. Cash was $297.9 million in Q2 2025 and $238.6 million in Q3 2025. It then fell to $106.5 million in Q1 2026 before rising to $419.4 million in Q2 2026.6 At FY2025's operating burn, which averages roughly $27 million a month by our division, the Q1 2026 balance would have covered a little under four months. The Q2 2026 jump implies new money arrived in that quarter, but the dossier does not say how, so we cannot say on what terms.
The same low-then-rebuilt pattern appears earlier. Cash was $23.8 million in Q3 2023 and $28.4 million in Q2 2024, then $93.8 million in Q3 2024.6 Via News's reading of this series is that Summit funds itself in bursts and spends down between them. That is our analysis of the filed figures, not a statement from the company.
One caution on capital spending. The recorded capex figures are $128,000 (FY2023), $139,000 (FY2024) and $657,000 (FY2025), exactly as they appear in the data.6 If these are right, they are tiny next to the operating outflow, which would suggest the money goes into running trials rather than buying equipment. We cannot confirm that from the dossier.
Further down the capital ladder
Not every name has Summit's access to funding. Spago's board resolved on October 22 to apply to delist from Nasdaq First North Growth Market, subject to an extraordinary general meeting, in order to improve conditions for financing the next phase of Tumorad development.7 That meeting is planned for November 19, 2026. A delisting application is intended no earlier than January 25, 2027, with the last trading day expected in February 2027.7 For a shareholder, the practical point is that a listing can become a cost rather than a funding source for a very small company.
Akari Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AKTX) sits in a different spot. Its CEO's materials say AKTX-101 is aimed at Phase 1 in mid-2027, and the company describes ADC-refractory patients as “a significant, growing unmet need” and an exclusive opportunity for its payload. This is the company's own claim, and no quotation marks apply because the dossier carries it as a paraphrase.8 It is a promotional document from the issuer, and nothing in our data checks the demand claim.
For contrast, Novocure reported Q2 2026 net revenue of $184 million, up 16% on a year earlier, with 18% growth in active patients.9 Frank Leonard called it “our strongest quarter to date.”9 A company with sales to grow is a very different proposition from one funding trials from a balance sheet.
Other regulatory news in the cluster shows how steady the large-company flow is. On July 24, 2026, the CHMP gave a positive opinion for Gilead's Trodelvy plus Keytruda in first-line PD-(L)1-positive metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Evandro de Azambuja called the opinion “welcome news for our patients and the entire clinical community.”10 Moderna and Merck plan to present detailed intismeran results at ESMO on October 24 and to engage regulators on potential filings.1 A real-world study of mogamulizumab (Poteligeo) in 109 patients found a median time to next treatment of 14.9 months and a 62.4% best overall response rate.11
AI-driven discovery: a pitch, with a reliability warning
AstraZeneca's Puja Sapra describes a “lab of the future” in which “AI [makes] predictions, robotic systems [execute] experiments, and instruments [generate] data.”12 She also says: “Data is our differentiator.”12 She is candid about the limits: “One of the hardest problems in de novo design is predicting whether a computationally generated molecule will be safe in the human body.”12 Human oversight, she says, “remains at the heart of this approach.”12
We should be plain about how much weight this carries. Our measurements show only 6% of 16 checked claims from this MIT Technology Review source held up, a very small sample but a poor record.12 The NewsEOD wire items used elsewhere in this piece held up 53% of 6,520 checked claims.5,9,10 Wire releases are written by the companies themselves, and a bare majority is not a comfortable margin. That is why we lean on the SEC-filed figures for the numbers and treat the rest as the companies' own account.
What to watch
- Summit's next filing: whether cash stays near the Q2 2026 level of $419.4 million, and how fast operating outflow runs against FY2025's $322.9 million.6
- Whether the ESMO survival data lead to regulatory filings. The dossier shows presentations, not approvals, for ivonescimab.2,3
- The November 19, 2026 Spago meeting and the intended January 25, 2027 application date.7
- Moderna and Merck's October 24 presentation and any regulatory filing plans.1
Sources:
1 Via News event records — “2026 ESMO Congress” (October 23, 2026); “Detailed intismeran results to be presented at ESMO” (October 24, 2026)
2 Via News event record — “Positive OS results from Phase III HARMONi-GI1 in biliary tract cancer” (October 22, 2026)
3 Via News event record — “Ivonescimab data featured in 10 presentations at ESMO 2026” (October 22, 2026)
4 Via News entity graph — AstraZeneca AB relationships (Durvalumab; FTSE 100)
5 NewsEOD, “ZEGFROVY® (sunvozertinib) now available in the US for patients with previously treated non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations” (2026-10-22)
6 Via News verified data — Summit Therapeutics Inc. capex, cash, EPS, net income, operating cash flow, revenue, SEC filings (FY 2023 to Q2 2026)
7 Via News event records — Spago delisting: board resolution (October 22, 2026); extraordinary general meeting (November 19, 2026); application submission (January 25, 2027)
8 NewsEOD, “Akari Therapeutics CEO Highlights Differentiated ADC Payload Strategy and Path Toward Clinical Development in New CEO Corner” (2026-10-15)
9 NewsEOD, “Novocure Reports Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results” (2026-07-23)
10 NewsEOD, “CHMP Recommends Gilead’s Trodelvy® Plus Keytruda® in PD-(L)1-Positive First-Line Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer” (2026-07-24)
11 NewsEOD, “Final MINT Study Results Strengthen Real-World Evidence for Mogamulizumab (Poteligeo®) in Patients With Mycosis Fungoides and Sézary Syndrome” (2026-10-12)
12 MIT Technology Review, “How AI helps scientists design the next generation of medicines” (undated)
