A new pill is shrinking tumours in a rare cancer that has no approved targeted treatment

NUT carcinoma is a rare, fast-growing cancer that often appears in the chest or the head and neck, is frequently mistaken for something else, and has no approved targeted therapy anywhere in the world. At the ESMO 2026 cancer congress, China's Wenda Pharma reported Phase 2 results for NHWD-870, a pill designed to switch off a growth gene the cancer depends on: among 40 patients, tumours shrank in 12 (30%), and among the 20 patients whose tumours began in the chest, 9 responded (45%). No treatment-related deaths occurred. China's drug regulator has already granted the pill breakthrough therapy status, and the results support testing it further for patients who today have very few options.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation