Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) identifies a tumor-secreted protein that primes the lungs for metastasis; shows how a new drug combination improves survival in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma; and finds a three-drug combination works in most patients newly diagnosed with follicular lymphoma.

Carla Murray, center, opted to have her fallopian tubes removed during routine pelvic surgery in 2024 to reduce her risk of ovarian cancer — which led to the discovery of early-stage disease. Carla was successfully treated at MSK and was soon back to her active life of work, family, and travel, including a 2025 safari in Kenya with her husband, John Paul, and their three sons. Carla Murray never imagined a podcast would save her life.

Confronted by rising global competition, regulatory bottlenecks, economic challenges, and other obstacles, bold new strategies are essential to accelerate biomedical innovation. Yet many institutions in the U.S. and elsewhere are hampered by legacy systems, outdated strategies, or administrative inertia. Two recent articles published in The Harvard Business Review and Nature Medicine presented strategic models with the potential to reinvent biotech systems for greater patient impact.

MSK researchers have identified the protein ZFP36L2 as a key regulator of normal gut renewal — a process hijacked by colorectal cancer cells to spread to new organs. In this microscopy image of an injured mouse colon, stem cells appear in red at the bottom, cells expressing ZFP36L2 in green, and mucus-producing differentiated cells in blue at the top. ZFP36L2 acts as a stress sensor, maintaining the balance of stem cells, critical for repairing and renewing the gut.

New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) uncovers why some leukemia patients stop responding to promising new drugs; examines how bone’s hardness shapes the immune battle against metastasis; shows how a telehealth tobacco treatment program helps cancer patients quit smoking; creates the first atomic-level images of a key phosphate transporter that could inform treatment of ovarian cancer and kidney disease; finds Medicare Advantage patients with cancer receive optimal...

When his lung cancer developed drug resistance, Anthony Valente (left) enrolled a clinical trial for zidesamtinib, led by Dr. Alexander Drilon. The drug, now approved by the FDA, caused his tumors to shrink. A new drug that treats non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) carrying a mutation called a ROS1 fusion has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Skip to main content Skip to footer Dr. Alexander Drilon leads MSK's Early Drug Development Service, which focuses on finding more personalized cancer treatments. A drug that treats any kind of cancer driven by a particular change has received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drug, selpercatinib (Retevmo®), targets a rare genetic change called a RET gene fusion.

Skip to main content Skip to footer Dr. Alexander Drilon leads MSK's Early Drug Development Service, which focuses on finding more personalized cancer treatments. A drug that treats any kind of cancer driven by a particular genetic change has received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drug, selpercatinib (Retevmo®), targets a rare genetic change called a RET gene fusion.

Skip to main content Skip to footer MSK physician-scientist Dr. Santosha Vardhana says the new insight into T cell exhaustion provides a therapeutic target for drugs that could enable T cells to last longer and make immunotherapy more effective. A major pillar of cancer immunotherapy involves stimulating T cells, the specialized killers of the immune system, to attack tumors. But this strategy has been undermined by the tendency of T cells to tire out before finishing the job.

Dr. Jonathan Rosenberg says the emergence of enfortumab vedotin as a therapy for muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma “feels like a huge sea change in how we treat patients, and hopefully a turning point toward longer survival in this difficult disease.” This story was originally published in December 2025. It was updated on July 14, 2026. A powerful treatment for bladder cancer provides lasting survival benefits, new follow-up data from clinical trials confirms.