Today's digest is dominated by parallel AACR 2026 in San Diego and ESCMID Global 2026 in Munich, with peptide-based therapeutics delivering some of the highest-profile data readouts. The headline event is Circle Pharma's unveiling of first Phase 1 clinical activity data for CID-078, a macrocyclic peptide cyclin A/B RxL inhibitor, in the coveted Clinical Trials Plenary Session — a major validation moment for the macrocyclic peptide modality in oncology. Bicycle Therapeutics presents preclinical anti-tumor data for BT5528 (nuzefatide pevedotin), its EphA2-targeting bicyclic peptide drug conjugate, in head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma models. The AACR Opening Plenary — 'Precision, Partnership, Purpose' — features Carl June on CAR-T for solid tumors alongside Regina Barzilay, Charles Sawyers, and Georg Winter. Beyond oncology, Fedora Pharmaceuticals drops positive bactericidal data on FPI-2119, a first-in-class lactivicin antibiotic, at ESCMID, while a Nature Biomedical Engineering paper unveils HMD-AMP, a protein language model that screened 37 million+ antimicrobial peptide candidates across nine mammalian host and gut microbiomes — a major AI milestone for AMR research. Molecular Partners, Leukogene, Cogent, and Verismo round out the day's slate with novel modalities spanning DARPin T-cell engagers, MHC class II engagers, pan-KRAS inhibitors, and KIR-CAR-T platforms.