With ASCO looming at the end of this month, previews of the world's most anticipated new cancer drugs are getting under way. And today Bloomberg's Robert Langreth leads off with a collection of experimental immunotherapies that have grabbed the industry's attention with their blockbuster potential.

Which experimental drugs make Langreth's list? There's Bristol-Myers' nivolumab, a PD-1 drug that is being put at center stage of the next-gen field. Now in 6 late-stage studies, the treatment (BMS-936558 acquired in the Medarex buyout) spurred tumor shrinkage in three of 5 cancer groups studied, including 18% of 72 lung cancer patients, close to a third of 98 melanoma patients and 27% of 33 patients with kidney cancer. Merck, meanwhile, has the melanoma drug lambrolizumab, which grabbed the FDA's new breakthrough designation after impressive Ib data came through for skin cancer. Now Merck believes it may be able to win an approval with the right mid-stage data, a bid that would considerably enhance its position after frustrating investors with a weak late-stage pipeline.

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A blood test to determine a patient's suicide risk may be within reach. Scientists at the University of New South Wales in Australia and colleagues in Sweden believe they've come up with a viable diagnostic biomarker: higher-than-normal levels of the neurotransmitter quinolinic acid. Through their work with an unnamed biotech, they expect to debut a working blood test for human clinical trials within the next year, the Australian Times reports. Ideally, such a test would process results with a day or two, enabling targeted personalized medicine-style treatments specific to reducing levels of quinolinic acid. Read more >>