SITC 2026 recap from a melanoma and sarcoma oncologist: next-gen TIL, dual bispecifics, cell therapy in sarcoma, and why infusion timing may matter.
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Three-year NADINA data showed something that shouldn’t happen: near-complete responders did substantially worse than partial responders — 62.3% versus 87.5% recurrence-free survival. One design feature separates NADINA from every neoadjuvant melanoma trial before it. NADINA mandated full lymph node dissection in every patient; PRADO left the basin alone in major responders. I think that may be the explanation, and nobody raised it.
For the first time, an individualized mRNA cancer vaccine has beaten standard-of-care immunotherapy in a randomized phase 3 trial. INTerpath-001 showed a 42% reduction in recurrence risk and an 8-point absolute gain in freedom from distant metastasis in resected stage IIB–IV melanoma — with essentially no added toxicity. Here is what the data showed, and the four questions I think determine how we use it well.
Four randomized trials and one excellent symposium defined day one of the melanoma program at ESMO 2026 in Madrid: an oral HDAC inhibitor added to nivolumab, a BRAF/MEK-plus-immunotherapy triplet, two trials pushing TIL cell therapy earlier and lighter, and a landscape in metastatic uveal melanoma that has changed faster than most providers realize. Here is the data as presented, and my take on each.
After two rejections, the FDA approved a new melanoma therapy that finally reaches beyond the skin — into the liver, into the lungs. Here’s why the third try worked.
OBX-115 engineered TIL therapy achieved a 67% response rate in melanoma patients who failed immunotherapy — with no IL-2 and outpatient-friendly dosing.
A firewall against relapse — adjuvant immunotherapy steps into the spotlight for resected Merkel cell carcinoma.
Protecting vision, preserving the person — the promise of ocular-sparing oncology.
Details once dismissed as trivial—like timing—can quietly reshape cancer care.
Sometimes restraint is the wiser choice — half of patients are cured with PD-1 alone.