Health · Medical Research · 2 hrs ago
Medical advances in 2026 bring new cancer and gene-editing treatments
Several medical advances are beginning to reach patients in 2026, including treatments involving gene editing and artificial intelligence.
In August, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Rasonque, a pill for advanced pancreatic cancer, after a trial found median survival was 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months on chemotherapy.
Intellia Therapeutics said its one-time gene-editing infusion lonvo-z cut hereditary angioedema attacks by 87% compared with a placebo, though a separate treatment from the company faced a pause after a patient suffered serious liver damage and later died.
In an early trial of 35 people, Verve Therapeutics’ gene-editing treatment lowered bad cholesterol by up to 62% at the highest dose.
Lilly said its experimental weekly injection retatrutide led to average weight loss of 25% over 80 weeks at the top dose, but 11.3% of those patients stopped treatment because of side effects.
Together, the results show gene editing and AI moving toward medical use, but the roundup notes that not every item is a breakthrough and only about half rely on those technologies.
A new pill for advanced pancreatic cancer roughly doubled median survival in a trial and was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in August.
Other medical advances reported in 2026 include gene-editing treatments for hereditary angioedema and high cholesterol.
The pancreatic cancer pill, daraxonrasib, was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in May.
Some advances use gene editing or artificial intelligence, and the article says these technologies are starting to reach patients.
The article cautions that not every item on a widely shared list of advances is a breakthrough.
- Who
- Researchers and companies reported advances, including Revolution Medicines, Intellia Therapeutics and Verve Therapeutics.
- What
- Medical advances include a pancreatic cancer pill, gene-editing treatments and new weight-loss injections.
- When
- The advances were reported during 2026; the pancreatic cancer results were presented in May.
- Where
- Results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting. The meeting’s location is not stated.
- Why
- The advances aim to treat serious diseases, including advanced cancer, hereditary angioedema and high cholesterol.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
UK and US regulators cleared Casgevy, a gene-editing medicine for sickle cell disease.
Intellia Therapeutics reported that its lonvo-z treatment cut hereditary angioedema attacks by 87% compared with a placebo.
Results for the pancreatic cancer pill were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting.
The FDA approved daraxonrasib as Rasonque.
Mgoes posted a list of 10 medical advances on X.
Elon Musk shared Mgoes’s post.
- Daraxonrasib trial
- Median survival was 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months on chemotherapy.
- Rasonque approval
- FDA approval came in August 2026.
- Lonvo-z
- Cut hereditary angioedema attacks by 87% versus placebo.
- VERVE-102
- Lowered bad cholesterol by 62% at the highest dose in an early trial of 35 people.
- Retatrutide
- Top-dose participants lost an average of 25% of body weight over 80 weeks.
What people are saying
This might be my last normal tweet before biotech goes vertical
sitting in press releases and almost nobody reads them
If you look closely enough, breakthroughs in everything are accelerating exponentially. An exponential always starts off looking small.