3 treatments from 2026 that could alter the future of medicine

It’s been quite a year for pharmaceutical development, full of twists, turns, and new treatments.

Were you too busy to follow along? Honestly, we don’t blame you.

To help you out, we’re breaking down three interesting and potentially market-defining treatments that emerged this year, zooming in on how they work and how they may impact the pharmaceuticals market.

Let’s get into it!

Oral GLP-1s

After years of demand for an oral GLP-1 option, it’s finally available.

Novo Nordisk launched a daily oral Wegovy pill on Jan. 5, the first-ever FDA-approved oral GLP-1 for weight loss. Eli Lilly followed with its own daily oral GLP-1, Foundayo (orforglipron), on April 1.

Even before these oral versions became available, injectable GLP-1s were hugely popular and are now taken by an estimated 1 in 8 adults in the US, per a November KFF poll.

Now, that customer base is growing. Novo announced on June 7 that prescriptions for oral Wegovy had surpassed 3 million in just five months and that the majority of those prescriptions were for patients who hadn’t tried GLP-1 therapy before. Eli Lilly spokesperson Megan MacCauley told us the company plans to provide Foundayo prescription data in its August 5 earnings.

Daraxonrasib

Okay, okay, hear us out. The new cancer drug daraxonrasib from Revolution Medicines is still investigational—meaning it’s not yet FDA approved—but pancreatic cancer researchers are incredibly excited. The company (and its drug) got a standing ovation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology this May, outlets including Stat News reported.

In an April 13 press release, Revolution shared that patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who took its drug as a second-line treatment survived nearly twice as long as patients who only got chemotherapy in a Phase 3 clinical trial.

This is a big deal because pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancers. About 86.3% of people die within five years of diagnosis, according to the National Cancer Institute, primarily because it spreads fast and often doesn’t cause any symptoms until it’s highly advanced. 

So even though it’s not yet approved, the FDA did greenlight an expansion of access for the investigational drug on April 30, according to a release from the federal agency.

Icotyde

Biopharma Johnson & Johnson, in collaboration with biotech Protagonist Therapeutics, announced FDA approval of daily pill Icotyde (icotrokinra) on March 18 for certain patients with plaque psoriasis. The common autoimmune condition affects about 6.7 million adults, typically manifesting through thick red patches of irritation on the skin, per Cleveland Clinic.

The drug is an oral peptide and the first treatment that “precisely blocks” the interleukin 23 receptor, aka IL-23, a protein responsible for inflammation, per J&J’s press release. IL-23 is also implicated in other diseases, like Crohn’s. J&J predicts sales for the drug could surpass $5 billion a year.