Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launched a crypto billionaire and five other people to the final frontier on Sunday (Aug. 3).
The mission — known as NS-34, because it was the 34th overall flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle — lifted off from the company’s West Texas spaceport at 8:43 a.m. EDT (1243 GMT; 7:43 a.m. local time in West Texas).
A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket carrying the NS-34 crew lifts off on a suborbital spaceflight on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (Image credit: Blue Origin)
The highest-profile NS-34 passenger was Justin Sun, a 34-year-old billionaire who founded the blockchain platform Tron. In June 2021, Sun won an auction for a seat aboard the first-ever crewed flight of New Shepard, plunking down $28 million. (He did so anonymously; we didn’t learn that Sun posted the winning bid until December 2021.)
A scheduling conflict kept Sun from joining that landmark flight, which took place on July 20, 2021 — the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The passengers that day were Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen.
The passengers for Blue Origin’s NS-34 suborbital spaceflight. (Image credit: Blue Origin)
The people flying with Sun on Sunday were Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal, an Indian-born American real estate investor and adventurer; Turkish businessman and photographer Gökhan Erdem; Deborah Martorell, a journalist and meteorologist from Puerto Rico; Englishman Lionel Pitchford,who has run an orphanage in Nepal for three decades; and American entrepreneur James (J.D.) Russell.
“It was an honor to see so many nations represented on our flight today,” Blue Origin’s Phil Joyce, senior vice president, New Shepard, said in a postflight statement. “The view of our fragile planet from space has a unifying effect on all who witness it, and I am always eager to see how our astronauts use this experience for the benefit of Earth.”
All six passengers were spaceflight rookies except Russell, who flew on Blue Origin’s NS-28 mission in November 2024. You can learn more about each of them in our NS-34 “meet the crew” story.
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
NS-34 was the 14th human spaceflight to date for New Shepard, which consists of a rocket topped by a crew capsule. Both of these elements are reusable; the rocket comes back to Earth for a vertical, powered touchdown like those performed by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, and the capsule lands softly under parachutes.
Each New Shepard flight lasts 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown. During this brief time, passengers get above the Kármán line — the 62-mile-high (100 kilometers) demarcation widely regarded as the point where space begins — and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.
Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices, so we don’t how much folks usually pay for a ride. But it’s safe to say that it’s considerably less than Sun ponied up back in 2021.
That sum was a philanthropic contribution. according to Blue Origin.
“The proceeds from the $28 million bid benefitted 19 space-focused charities to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art and math] and help shape the future of life in space,” the company wrote in an NS-34 mission description.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 11:20 a.m. ET to include a postflight quote from Phil Joyce.
A new clinical readout from the Resistance Drivers for Immuno-Oncology Patients Interrogated by Harmonized Molecular Datasets (RADIOHEAD) study has validated the use of a tissue-free monitoring assay, Guardant Reveal, for the earlier detection of immunotherapy response in patients with advanced solid tumors.1,2
The findings, published in Cancer Research Communications, demonstrate that the liquid biopsy can identify responders and, more critically, non-responders to treatment significantly sooner than conventional imaging methods. This could empower oncologists to make more timely and informed treatment decisions, potentially improving patient outcomes and quality of care.
The collaboration between Guardant Health and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy analyzed more than 500 patients with advanced solid tumors, including lung, skin, head and neck, breast, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and gynecologic cancers. The study was designed to assess if a blood-based monitoring assay could predict treatment response with greater accuracy and speed than standard-of-care methods. By measuring changes in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) tumor fraction, the researchers found a strong association between these changes and long-term patient outcomes.
One of the study’s most compelling findings was the ability to identify disease progression up to 5 months earlier than standard-of-care imaging. The data showed that patients with any reduction in tumor fraction had a superior outcome, while those with a decrease of 80% or more had a 75% lower risk of progression. This early signal of therapeutic efficacy or resistance could be a game-changer for a clinical practice where treatment decisions are often delayed while waiting for a patient to show clinical progression via imaging. The ability to pivot to a new therapy earlier could spare patients unnecessary toxicity from an ineffective regimen and provide a more personalized approach to their care.
“Precise serial monitoring at the molecular level provides real value to oncologists and to patients using immunotherapy,” said Craig Eagle, MD, chief medical officer at Guardant Health, in a press release.2 “This study shows that Guardant Reveal has the potential to revolutionize how oncologists assess patient response, identifying earlier insights that can empower them to make informed decisions faster and improve patient outcome and quality of care.”
The RADIOHEAD program, a pantumor, prospective cohort study of 1070 immunotherapy-naive patients, is a significant real-world investigation into immune checkpoint inhibitor regimens.1,2 Conducted across 49 US community oncology clinics, the study collected over 3700 longitudinal blood samples. Multi-omic profiling, including ctDNA analysis, whole-exome sequencing, and high-dimensional immune profiling, was paired with detailed clinical and demographic data. This comprehensive dataset aims to uncover mechanisms of response, resistance, and toxicity, providing deep translational insights that may inform future therapeutic strategies.
The Guardant Reveal assay, which is a methylation-based ctDNA test, provides a tissue-free method for measurable residual disease (MRD) assessment. By utilizing this technology for immunotherapy monitoring, the study expands the clinical utility of liquid biopsies beyond their established use in MRD detection in early-stage cancers like colorectal cancer. The findings provide a new caliber of precision monitoring for patients with advanced cancers.
The implications for clinical practice are significant. With the rise of immune checkpoint inhibitors, which can be costly and have associated toxicities, a tool that can quickly and accurately assess a patient’s response could optimize treatment pathways. The data from the RADIOHEAD study suggests that this technology could help clinicians de-escalate or change therapy for patients who are not responding, and conversely, provide confidence in continuing an effective regimen. The move toward non-invasive, blood-based monitoring for immunotherapy response represents a promising step in advancing precision medicine and improving outcomes for cancer patients.
REFERENCES:
1. Liang SI, Quandt Z, Wienke S, et al. Methylation-based ctDNA tumor fraction changes predict long-term clinical benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors in RADIOHEAD, a real-world pan-cancer study. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 Jul 29. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-25-0151. Online ahead of print.
2. New RADIOHEAD Study Validates Use of Guardant Reveal Tissue-Free Monitoring for Earlier Detection of Immunotherapy Response in Advanced Cancer. News release. Guardant. July 29, 2025. Accessed August 1, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/y3jne23v
Ikebukuro is one of the busiest train stations in Japan—indeed, in the world—but just a few minutes from its gates is Chanoma, a quiet café offering tasty treats and a spot for calm moments in a green oasis in the city.
Memories of Ikebukuro Long Past
Just a few minutes from the bustle of Ikebukuro Station’s West Exit, and a single turn into one of the narrow streets spreading through Ikebukuro, I find myself stopping short. Nestled among the towering buildings is a verdant, tree-filled garden hiding a café in an old, traditional-style house. The single-story wooden structure, embraced in a quiet like something from another time, is around 80 years old, and greets every new customer with this feeling of charming discovery.
The house itself was built by the owner Fukano Hiroyuki’s grandfather after World War II, and his family has lived in this area since the Edo period (1603–1868).
The wooden gate at the cafe entrance is a precious piece of architecture dating back to the mid- to late-nineteenth century, meaning it has survived both the Great Kantō Earthquake and the firebombing of World War II. A step through that gate takes me into the cafe area.
The first sight inside is a doma—a feature of older houses, a large, dirt-floored workroom inside the main entrance—lined with tables and benches. Stepping up into the house, where Fukano once actually lived, gives access to washitsu rooms with tatami mats and a covered exterior walkway, or engawa.
Both spaces, the doma and washitsu, are now open to café customers, and feature large windows looking out onto the green garden outside. Stay in the doma to enjoy light filtering through the trees, or take off your shoes and step into washitsu for a taste of the cool shadows of a traditional Japanese house. Sun or shade—let your mood decide which suits you best that day.
The washitsu rooms take advantage of carefully preserved original fixtures, like fusuma sliding doors decorated with patterns of golden clouds and ume blossoms, and shōji screens with glass panels at the bottom for gazing out at the snow in winter. One room has a tokonoma alcove and a fireplace. Formerly the house tearoom, this space eschews gaudy decoration in favor of a more reserved, calming atmosphere.
At Chanoma, customers order their drinks and sweets at the counter. The cafe’s most popular dish by far is the Nōkō Matcha Terrine. It uses tea from venerable Aoiseicha, a tea shop in Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, packing it with the rich flavor of matcha. It is topped with whipped cream flavored with smoked hōjicha, a form of roasted tea, for a taste treat that balances depth with gentle enjoyment.
I particularly recommend pairing it with the Hōjicha Latte, which balances the natural sweetness of milk and roasted hōjicha tea. Shop manager Katō Hiroshi says, with a grin, “We use hōjicha roasted from first-pick tea, so the leaves are packed with umami and sweetness. We want customers to enjoy the natural flavor of the ingredients.”
The hot drink is great, of course, but in summer the iced version is also a real treat.
Nishi Ike Valley—A New Community Under the High Rises
Chanoma opened in December 2021.
“I want to build relationships with people whose faces I know. I want to open up this space to the community and make it somewhere people can mingle,” reflects Fukano.
That is what drove his efforts in redeveloping the land he owned and encouraging shops, like Chanoma, to open here. He has grown this hidden residential neighborhood into a greenery-wrapped, welcoming commercial complex called Nishi Ike Valley.
What makes this Ikebukuro spot a “valley?” That name stems from the contrast between the towering high rises lining the main street in front of Ikebukuro Station and the many lower-stature structures in this area, like a green valley between the mountainous buildings. It also reflects his desire to see this a place where many branching “tributaries” flow together to become one stream uniting diverse people and facilities to create something new.
Chanoma’s design was done by Sudō Tsuyoshi’s design studio. The general concept was one of gently tying together the physical space, so they removed the wall that once stood round the garden. They also removed some of the paving on the grounds to replant shrubbery there. That helps blur the borders with the outside to create a more comfortable, half-indoor, half-outdoor environment.
A place where visitors can feel free to find their own way of being in the space—that is the true charm of Nishi Ike Valley.
The 2023 Nishi Ike Valley fair, held in the parking lot across from Chanoma, attracted over 200 children to enjoy festival games, street stall food, and shaved ice. Other events, like Nishi Ike Valley Day, include market stalls selling food made in the facility’s shared kitchen and other offers of casual fun.
On an earlier interview done a few years ago, Fukano shared a clear hope: “I want to see people living in the buildings alongside us to come down and have fun on the street, and to hear the voices of children.”
In May 2025, construction finished on a new residential building within the Nishi Ike Valley grounds. The first floor already has tenants like restaurants, a gym, and a work-share space. With this new public living space, connecting residents with those who come for fun, the day when that dream comes true seems close at hand.
A Garden for All Seasons
Chanoma was the first business to open here, becoming the nucleus for the Nishi Ike Valley project and an object of curiosity from many. Rather than being a perfectly polished commercial facility, it embodies the Nishi Ike Valley concept of “A house in town to enjoy the spaces between.”
In the garden, spring sees the blossoming of cherries, and the ume begin to ripen in early summer. Autumn is when the chestnuts and yuzu appear. When planting the garden, Fukano says, “We focused on things that bear fruit, that lose their leaves in autumn, and that attract butterflies to lay their eggs.”
There are gardeners to care for the trees, people to water the plants early in the morning, and those who come to sweep the leaves from the streets. This garden itself calls for many hands to tend it, and so has formed its own small community.
“It feels good to me to work in this environment. Watering the plants every day helps me see up close the vitality of these plants and feel the changing of the seasons,” says Katō.
Once, some visitors from overseas staying at a hotel in Ikebukuro came to Chanoma three days in a row. They brought different friends every day, and apparently explained to each that visiting the cafe was their new morning ritual.
If you want a quiet time to visit, avoid the weekends and come on a weekday morning. The scenery around Chanoma offers new flowers and fruit with every season. It is a place that makes you want to come again and again, a place that nurtures moments of stillness.
Chanoma
Address: 5-12-3 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo
Hours: 10:00 am–6:30 pm (last orders at 6:00 pm)
Closed: Tuesdays
Access: 6 minutes on foot from Kanamechō Station on the Tokyo Metro Yūrakuchō Line; 8 minutes on foot from JR Ikebukuro Station
Now and then, people get excited about news they should’ve expected. That’s what’s happening with this new wave of optimism about US–China trade. Suddenly, the Singapore dollar is firming up, ASEAN equities are bouncing, and headlines are popping up with phrases like “renewed confidence” and “regional momentum.”
We have nothing against good news. But if you’re an investor or anyone hoping to understand what’s happening in the markets, you must separate noise from signal. And most importantly, you need to know what lasts.
Trade normalization is rational
US–China trade cooperation is not a breakthrough. It’s just two superpowers realizing that full-scale economic divorce is not wise. Tariffs hurt both sides, and deglobalization is expensive. The smarter move is to keep competing and keep trading at the same time.
That’s why the markets are cheering. According to a December 2024 report from Krungsri Research, ASEAN countries have picked up the slack as businesses look to diversify out of China. It’s the classic “China+1” model. These companies don’t abandon China but hedge their bets by expanding elsewhere. Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia are at the center of that trend. So is Singapore, in a more refined, financial way.
You don’t have to be a genius to see what this means: more capital, trade, and flows into regional currencies like the Singapore dollar. But again, this isn’t some magical transformation. It’s just basic arithmetic.
Singapore dollar shows strength
The Singapore dollar (SGD) has been firming up lately. Why? Because Singapore has credibility. It manages its currency through a basket-based exchange rate system that reacts to inflation and economic conditions, not short-term political moves.
When capital starts flowing into ASEAN as a side effect of China-US sanity returning, the SGD is one of the first to benefit. Investors like clarity, and Singapore offers that. Add in decent inflation control and a solid current account, and it is no surprise that the SGD is strong, outpacing peers like the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit. That’s earned trust.
ASEAN markets get a positive return
Markets love optimism. ASEAN equities have seen a healthy uptick in the first half of 2025, especially in logistics, tech, and manufacturing. Vietnam’s FPT Corp, which handles cloud infrastructure and digital services, is up over 18 percent. Thanks to EV demand, Indonesia’s nickel sector is drawing investment from every direction.
The US Chamber of Commerce and ADB note that the ASEAN region is now a strategic production hub. That’s because it’s not China, but it’s not far from it either. It’s a diversified, young, cheap labor market with governments that mostly want foreign money.
But before you jump in headfirst, remember that it’s not supposed to be easy. There are power supply issues in Vietnam and Indonesia, as well as complex land laws that require careful navigation.
So yes, the trend is real, but will it last?
Don’t confuse movement with progress
A lot of people get excited when markets heat up. But if you’re playing this game seriously, you need to ask yourself: what is changing underneath?
You want structural reforms. You want legal systems that work. You want power grids that don’t black out every time demand spikes. Without those things, the ASEAN story stalls.
Now, some of those improvements are happening. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is making it easier for goods to move around the region. The Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) aims to make ASEAN a digital powerhouse by 2030. These are serious moves—if they stick.
But again, you must look at what’s real and what’s wishful thinking. Is the infrastructure being built? Is corruption going down? Are rules being enforced?
Most people don’t ask the crucial questions. That’s why these people are taking more risks with their money.
Where the long-term value might be
If you’re looking for something to own, here’s what might be interesting:
Singapore-listed firms with real cash flow and exposure to ASEAN expansion.
Digital infrastructure players across ASEAN data centers, telecoms, and logistics.
Selective ETFs like iShares MSCI ASEAN, which give you diversified exposure, though they’re far from perfect.
And always consider currency effects. If you’re holding Malaysian or Vietnamese assets, be aware of the risks in their currencies. SGD offers a little protection, but nothing’s bulletproof.
Use smart tools to spot opportunities
There’s a saying in poker: if you can’t spot the sucker in the first 30 minutes, it’s you. The same applies to investing.
The return of US–China trade optimism is good. The SGD firming up is a clear result of it. The ASEAN market rally makes sense on paper. But don’t kid yourself. Optimism isn’t a strategy. The winners are the ones studying what’s happening behind the scenes.
Smart tools like TradingView Singapore help you play the game wisely. With no delays, TradingView lets you monitor currency pairs like SGD/USD or SGD/VND in real time. You get snapshots of daily, monthly, and annual moves, technical indicators, and crowd-sourced analysis.
More importantly, it allows you to:
Set price or volume alerts directly on the SGD chart so you’re notified the moment your conditions are met
Use built-in tools like oscillators and moving averages to spot trends and reversals
Explore the “Ideas” section, where traders share real-world insights and strategies that can sharpen your thinking
Trade directly through integrated brokers like Saxo or CMC using one login and one interface
So use smart tools. Watch the fundamentals. Read the boring reports. Ask the hard questions. If you want to win in the markets, be skeptical of anything that sounds too easy.
Trade hopes don’t make an economy
The US–China trade cheer has turned up the volume in ASEAN, lifting currencies, stocks, and spirits. The Singapore dollar benefits from being the adult in the room, and ASEAN markets are finally getting the attention they’ve earned.
But optimism isn’t a strategy. Long-term value only comes from hard-earned advantages. These include good governance, innovative infrastructure, and sound currency management. ASEAN has parts of that, and Singapore has most of it. But don’t get carried away by headlines.
You make money by understanding what’s real, not blindly following the crowd.
About Us
China Briefing is one of five regional Asia Briefing publications, supported by Dezan Shira & Associates. For a complimentary subscription to China Briefing’s content products, please click here.
Dezan Shira & Associates assists foreign investors into China and has done so since 1992 through offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. We also have offices in Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, United States, Germany, Italy, India, and Dubai (UAE) and partner firms assisting foreign investors in The Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Australia. For assistance in China, please contact the firm at china@dezshira.com or visit our website at www.dezshira.com.
Stacey Monkman says it is difficult to maintain morale on the site
At a fuel plant near Hull, 20 tonnes of wheat are being poured from a lorry into storage, ready to be turned into ethanol – a type of alcohol that, when blended with petrol, reduces emissions.
But this week’s delivery, grown in the fields of Lincolnshire, is the last one on order for Vivergo Fuels.
The owners of the UK’s largest bioethanol plant, at Saltend, say its future is in doubt following a government decision to end a 19% tariff on US imports of the fuel as part of the recent UK-US trade deal.
Last month, Vivergo, which is owned by Associated British Foods (ABF), began consulting staff about shutting down the plant due to the uncertainty.
Managers are calling for financial help from ministers. Without it, they say production at the site – which employs more than 160 people – may halt before 13 September.
They estimate about 4,500 jobs in the supply chain will be affected, including the farmers who grow the wheat and the truck drivers who transport it.
The government says it is in formal discussions with the company and wants to find “a way forward that protects supply chains, jobs and livelihoods”.
Nick Smalley oversees production at the Vivergo plant
Stacey Monkman, who has worked at Vivergo for three years in the commercial and logistics departments, says it has been difficult to keep up morale.
“We’re motivated because we’ve still got our jobs to do, but it’s very unsettling.
“Being in limbo and waiting, not knowing which way it’s going to go, it’s hard,” she says.
“We’ve all got families, we’ve all got bills to pay… a lot rides on it for us.”
Production manager Nick Smalley began as an apprentice and now manages about 65 people at the refinery.
“It’s really frustrating that these decisions are being made and we have no influence over them,” he says.
“I care deeply about the team that I have here, I want a bright future for all of those people. We really need quick action now, it’s getting to crisis point.”
Aghaul boss Mike Green is among suppliers who rely on the site for business
Production at Saltend had already been cut due to low bioethanol prices, with ABF initially raising the prospect of closure in April. The trade deal followed in May.
It is not only Vivergo employees who are affected. The plant buys more than a million tonnes of British wheat each year from more than 4,000 farms and says it has purchased from 12,000 individual farms over the past decade.
Farmer Matt Pickering, of Pickering and Sons, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, sold the last load of wheat to Vivergo.
“We struggle with the quality of our land type, so we tend to go for out-and-out bulk volume shed fillers,” he says.
“Vivergo has been a fantastic home for us to sell feed wheat into.”
Meanwhile, Aghaul Limited, which transported the final wheat load to the plant, is among transport companies feeling the blow.
Managing director Mike Green believes the potential loss of the contract will have a significant “knock-on effect” for his haulage business.
“The government needs to have a look at this because it doesn’t just affect me, there’s a humongous amount of people that it’s going to affect.”
Vivergo/ PA Media
The Vivergo Fuels site on the north bank of the Humber
Ben Hackett, the managing director of Vivergo, describes the plant as a “key foundation on the whole green economy”.
Removing the tariff on US imports destroyed the market, he argues.
“The customers have gone overnight. That’s given us a real crisis. We cannot afford to operate this facility as a loss,” he adds.
Mr Hackett wrote to growers earlier this year explaining that the plant will only be able to honour existing contractual obligations for wheat purchases while the uncertainty continues.
He has urged the government to support bioethanol production by creating a clear framework in order to boost demand, in addition to providing financial help during the transition.
“We are weeks at most away from Associated British Foods having to make a decision on the viability of the business,” he says.
“This site could very well close unless the government takes action.”
‘Way forward’
A government spokesperson said the bioethanol industry had been facing “significant challenges” for some time and ministers were working with Vivergo on a plan to protect jobs and the supply chain.
Engagement with the companies continued “at pace” and external consultants had been brought in to help.
“We recognise this is a concerning time for workers and their families which is why we entered into formal discussions with the company on potential financial support last month,” the spokesperson said.
“We will continue to take proactive steps to address the long-standing challenges the company faces and remain committed to working closely with them throughout this period to present a plan for a way forward that protects supply chains, jobs and livelihoods.”
A compensation scheme for drivers over the mis-selling of car loans could cost as much as £18bn, the financial regulator has said.
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that hidden commissions from lenders to dealers on car loans were not unlawful, meaning millions of motorists will not be able to claim.
However, the judgement left open the possibility of compensation claims for particularly large commissions which the Supreme Court said were unfair.
Following the ruling, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said it will consult on running a payout scheme – estimated to cost between £9bn and £18bn.
It said that “most individuals will probably receive less than £950 in compensation”, with the first payouts expected next year if the scheme goes ahead.
Those who have already complained do not need to do anything, the FCA said, advising those who have yet to complain to contact their car loan provider rather than using a claims management company.
The regulator has said it will consult on who will be eligible for the payouts, adding that the Supreme Court ruling provided “clarity”.
On Friday, the Supreme Court reversed earlier court rulings which said that hidden commissions on car loans were unlawful.
However, it ruled in favour of Marcus Johnson, saying the commission paid to the dealer was so significant – 55% of the total charge or credit including interest and fees – that it was a “powerful indication” the relationship between Mr Johnson and lender FirstRand was unfair.
The Supreme Court awarded Mr Johnson the amount of a commission plus interest.
The FCA said Friday’s judgement “helps us because we have been looking at what is unfair and, prior to this judgment, there were different interpretations of the law coming from different courts”.
“The findings of this nonrandomized clinical trial suggest that high-dose aumolertinib treatment is associated with long survival benefit in patients with untreated EGFR-variant metastatic NSCLC and brain metastases, with a manageable safety profile. It deserves further validation in a randomized clinical trial,” according to the study authors.
High doses of aumolertinib, a third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), conferred a long-term survival benefit among patients with untreated EGFR-variant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and brain metastases, according to findings from the phase 2 ACHIEVE trial (NCT04808752) published in JAMA Oncology.1
After a median follow-up of 28.8 months (95% CI, 27.0-29.8), the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 20.5 months (95% CI, 12.0-26.9), which included a 12-month rate of 62.1% (95% CI, 48.7%-73.0%) and a 24-month rate of 40.8% (95% CI, 28.2%-53.1%). With a data maturity rate of 33.3%, the median intracranial PFS was not reached (NR; 95% CI, 22.3-NR); the 12-month and 24-month rates were 76.8% (95% CI, 63.2%-85.9%) and 62.3% (95% CI, 46.9%-74.4%), respectively.
The study treatment elicited a systemic objective response rate (ORR) of 88.9% (95% CI, 78.4%-95.4%) and an intracranial ORR of 82.5% (95% CI, 70.9%-90.9%) across the full analysis set, with data showing a systemic and intracranial disease control rate (DCR) of 100% (95% CI, 94.3%-100.0%). In the central nervous system (CNS) evaluable-for-response group, the systemic and intracranial ORR was 87.8% (95% CI, 75.2%-95.4%) and 85.7% (95% CI, 72.8%-94.1%), respectively.
The median duration of systemic response was 21.4 months (95% CI, 12.9-26.2) across the full analysis set and 20.7 months (95% CI, 9.4-25.9) in the CNS evaluable-for-response group. Additionally, data showed a median duration of intracranial response of 26.2 months (95% CI, 16.8-NR) based on RECIST v1.1 guidelines and 30.6 months (95% CI, 18.7-NR) per Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology-Brain Metastases (RANO-BM) criteria in the CNS evaluable-for-response group.
“The results of this nonrandomized clinical trial suggest the potential of high-dose aumolertinib as first-line treatment for this population,” lead study author Hui Li, MD, from the Department of Thoracic Medical Oncology at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, wrote with coauthors.1 “The findings of this nonrandomized clinical trial suggest that high-dose aumolertinib treatment is associated with long survival benefit in patients with untreated EGFR-variant metastatic NSCLC and brain metastases, with a manageable safety profile. It deserves further validation in a randomized clinical trial.”
In the multi-center, single-arm, nonrandomized phase 2 ACHIEVE trial, a total of 63 patients were assigned to receive treatment with aumolertinib at 165 mg orally once daily in 28-day cycles until progressive disease, unacceptable toxicity, withdrawal of consent, or death. Additionally, 49 patients accounted for the CNS evaluable-for-response group, which included those with at least 1 measurable brain lesion. Investigators conducted brain MRI and CT scans at baseline and every 8 weeks thereafter.
The trial’s primary end point was the 12-month PFS rate. Secondary end points included intracranial PFS, systemic ORR, intracranial ORR, duration of systemic response, duration of intracranial response, systemic DCR, intracranial DCR, overall survival, and safety.
Patients 18 to 75 years old with histologically or cytologically confirmed advanced NSCLC with brain metastases, tumor tissue samples or blood samples showing EGFR-sensitive disease, and no prior systemic treatment were eligible for enrollment on the trial.2 Other eligibility criteria included having a stable brain condition for at least 2 weeks before beginning study treatment and an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1.
The median age was 60 years (range, 47-76) in the full analysis set and 59 years (range, 47-76) in the CNS evaluable-for-response group, and most patients in each group were female (61.9% vs 67.3%). A majority of each respective group had an ECOG performance status of 1 (73.0% vs 71.4%), no prior smoking history (73.0% vs 75.5%), stage IVB disease (69.8% vs 71.4%), and extracranial metastases (66.7% vs 67.3%). A higher proportion of patients in the full analysis set had EGFR exon 19 deletion mutations (52.4%), while most in the CNS evaluable-for-response set had EGFR exon 21 L858R mutations (53.1%).
Treatment-related adverse effects (TRAEs) of any grade affected 92.1% of patients; 31.7% experienced grade 3 or higher TRAEs. The most common any-grade TRAEs included increased blood creatine phosphokinase (68.3%), increased aspartate aminotransferase (49.2%), increased alanine aminotransferase (38.1%), and increased blood lactate dehydrogenase (27.0%). Grade 3 or higher TRAEs included elevated blood creatine phosphokinase (27.0%) and increased alanine aminotransferase (3.2%).
Overall, 11.1% of patients experienced TRAEs leading to dose reductions, and 3.2% discontinued treatment due to grade 2 pneumonia. No patients died due to treatment.
References
Li H, Chen K, Gong L, et al. High-dose aumolertinib for untreated EGFR-variant non–small cell lung cancer with brain metastases: the ACHIEVE phase 2 nonrandomized clinical trial. JAMA Oncol. Published online June 26, 2025. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2025.1779
Almonertinib as first-line treatment in patients with EGFR mutations positive in advanced NSCLC with brain metastases (ACHIEVE). ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated April 22, 2024. Accessed July 31, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/mw9th5jx
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 06: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the OpenAI DevDay event on November 06, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Altman delivered the keynote address at the first-ever Open AI DevDay conference.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) | Image Credits:Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Shortly after Hunter Lightman joined OpenAI as a researcher in 2022, he watched his colleagues launch ChatGPT, one of the fastest-growing products ever. Meanwhile, Lightman quietly worked on a team teaching OpenAI’s models to solve high school math competitions.
Today that team, known as MathGen, is considered instrumental to OpenAI’s industry-leading effort to create AI reasoning models: the core technology behind AI agents that can do tasks on a computer like a human would.
“We were trying to make the models better at mathematical reasoning, which at the time they weren’t very good at,” Lightman told TechCrunch, describing MathGen’s early work.
OpenAI’s models are far from perfect today — the company’s latest AI systems still hallucinate and its agents struggle with complex tasks.
But its state-of-the-art models have improved significantly on mathematical reasoning. One of OpenAI’s models recently won a gold medal at the International Math Olympiad, a math competition for the world’s brightest high school students. OpenAI believes these reasoning capabilities will translate to other subjects, and ultimately power general-purpose agents that the company has always dreamed of building.
ChatGPT was a happy accident — a lowkey research preview turned viral consumer business — but OpenAI’s agents are the product of a years-long, deliberate effort within the company.
“Eventually, you’ll just ask the computer for what you need and it’ll do all of these tasks for you,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the company’s first developer conference in 2023. “These capabilities are often talked about in the AI field as agents. The upsides of this are going to be tremendous.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the OpenAI DevDay event on November 06, 2023 in San Francisco, California.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Image Credits:Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Whether agents will meet Altman’s vision remains to be seen, but OpenAI shocked the world with the release of its first AI reasoning model, o1, in the fall of 2024. Less than a year later, the 21 foundational researchers behind that breakthrough are the most highly sought-after talent in Silicon Valley.
Mark Zuckerberg recruited five of the o1 researchers to work on Meta’s new superintelligence-focused unit, offering some compensation packages north of $100 million. One of them, Shengjia Zhao, was recently named chief scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs.
The rise of OpenAI’s reasoning models and agents are tied to a machine learning training technique known as reinforcement learning (RL). RL provides feedback to an AI model on whether its choices were correct or not in simulated environments.
RL has been used for decades. For instance, in 2016, about a year after OpenAI was founded in 2015, an AI system created by Google DeepMind using RL, AlphaGo, gained global attention after beating a world champion in the board game, Go.
South Korean professional Go player Lee Se-Dol (R) prepares for his fourth match against Google’s artificial intelligence program, AlphaGo, during the Google DeepMind Challenge Match on March 13, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. Lee Se-dol played a five-game match against a computer program developed by a Google, AlphaGo. (Photo by Google via Getty Images)
Around that time, one of OpenAI’s first employees, Andrej Karpathy, began pondering how to leverage RL to create an AI agent that could use a computer. But it would take years for OpenAI to develop the necessary models and training techniques.
By 2018, OpenAI pioneered its first large language model in the GPT series, pretrained on massive amounts of internet data and a large clusters of GPUs. GPT models excelled at text processing, eventually leading to ChatGPT, but struggled with basic math.
It took until 2023 for OpenAI to achieve a breakthrough, initially dubbed “Q*” and then “Strawberry,” by combining LLMs, RL, and a technique called test-time computation. The latter gave the models extra time and computing power to plan and work through problems, verifying its steps, before providing an answer.
This allowed OpenAI to introduce a new approach called “chain-of-thought” (CoT), which improved AI’s performance on math questions the models hadn’t seen before.
“I could see the model starting to reason,” said El Kishky. “It would notice mistakes and backtrack, it would get frustrated. It really felt like reading the thoughts of a person.”
Though individually these techniques weren’t novel, OpenAI uniquely combined them to create Strawberry, which directly led to the development of o1. OpenAI quickly identified that the planning and fact checking abilities of AI reasoning models could be useful to power AI agents.
“We had solved a problem that I had been banging my head against for a couple of years,” said Lightman. “It was one of the most exciting moments of my research career.”
With AI reasoning models, OpenAI determined it had two new axes that would allow it to improve AI models: using more computational power during the post-training of AI models, and giving AI models more time and processing power while answering a question.
“OpenAI, as a company, thinks a lot about not just the way things are, but the way things are going to scale,” said Lightman.
Shortly after the 2023 Strawberry breakthrough, OpenAI spun up an “Agents” team led by OpenAI researcher Daniel Selsam to make further progress on this new paradigm, two sources told TechCrunch. Although the team was called “Agents,” OpenAI didn’t initially differentiate between reasoning models and agents as we think of them today. The company just wanted to make AI systems capable of completing complex tasks.
Eventually, the work of Selsam’s Agents team became part of a larger project to develop the o1 reasoning model, with leaders including OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, chief research officer Mark Chen, and chief scientist Jakub Pachocki.
Ilya Sutskever, Russian Israeli-Canadian computer scientist and co-founder and Chief Scientist of OpenAI, speaks at Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv on June 5, 2023. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)Image Credits:Getty Images
OpenAI would have to divert precious resources — mainly talent and GPUs — to create o1. Throughout OpenAI’s history, researchers have had to negotiate with company leaders to obtain resources; demonstrating breakthroughs was a surefire way to secure them.
“One of the core components of OpenAI is that everything in research is bottom up,” said Lightman. “When we showed the evidence [for o1], the company was like, ‘This makes sense, let’s push on it.’”
Some former employees say that the startup’s mission to develop AGI was the key factor in achieving breakthroughs around AI reasoning models. By focusing on developing the smartest-possible AI models, rather than products, OpenAI was able to prioritize o1 above other efforts. That type of large investment in ideas wasn’t always possible at competing AI labs.
The decision to try new training methods proved prescient. By late 2024, several leading AI labs started seeing diminishing returns on models created through traditional pretraining scaling. Today, much of the AI field’s momentum comes from advances in reasoning models.
In many ways, the goal of AI research is to recreate human intelligence with computers. Since the launch of o1, ChatGPT’s UX has been filled with more human-sounding features such as “thinking” and “reasoning.”
When asked whether OpenAI’s models were truly reasoning, El Kishky hedged, saying he thinks about the concept in terms of computer science.
“We’re teaching the model how to efficiently expend compute to get an answer. So if you define it that way, yes, it is reasoning,” said El Kishky.
Lightman takes the approach of focusing on the model’s results and not as much on the means or their relation to human brains.
The OpenAI logo on screen at their developer day stage. (Credit: Devin Coldeway)Image Credits:Devin Coldewey
“If the model is doing hard things, then it is doing whatever necessary approximation of reasoning it needs in order to do that,” said Lightman. “We can call it reasoning, because it looks like these reasoning traces, but it’s all just a proxy for trying to make AI tools that are really powerful and useful to a lot of people.”
OpenAI’s researchers note people may disagree with their nomenclature or definitions of reasoning — and surely, critics have emerged — but they argue it’s less important than the capabilities of their models. Other AI researchers tend to agree.
Nathan Lambert, an AI researcher with the non-profit AI2, compares AI reasoning modes to airplanes in a blog post. Both, he says, are manmade systems inspired by nature — human reasoning and bird flight, respectively — but they operate through entirely different mechanisms. That doesn’t make them any less useful, or any less capable of achieving similar outcomes.
A group of AI researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind agreed in a recent position paper that AI reasoning models are not well understood today, and more research is needed. It may be too early to confidently claim what exactly is going on inside them.
The AI agents on the market today work best for well-defined, verifiable domains such as coding. OpenAI’s Codex agent aims to help software engineers offload simple coding tasks. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s models have become particularly popular in AI coding tools like Cursor and Claude Code — these are some of the first AI agents that people are willing to pay up for.
However, general purpose AI agents like OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent and Perplexity’s Comet struggle with many of the complex, subjective tasks people want to automate. When trying to use these tools for online shopping or finding a long-term parking spot, I’ve found the agents take longer than I’d like and make silly mistakes.
Agents are, of course, early systems that will undoubtedly improve. But researchers must first figure out how to better train the underlying models to complete tasks that are more subjective.
AI applications (Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Like many problems in machine learning, it’s a data problem,” said Lightman, when asked about the limitations of agents on subjective tasks. “Some of the research I’m really excited about right now is figuring out how to train on less verifiable tasks. We have some leads on how to do these things.”
Noam Brown, an OpenAI researcher who helped create the IMO model and o1, told TechCrunch that OpenAI has new general-purpose RL techniques which allow them to teach AI models skills that aren’t easily verified. This was how the company built the model which achieved a gold medal at IMO, he said.
OpenAI’s IMO model was a newer AI system that spawns multiple agents, which then simultaneously explore several ideas, and then choose the best possible answer. These types of AI models are becoming more popular; Google and xAI have recently released state-of-the-art models using this technique.
“I think these models will become more capable at math, and I think they’ll get more capable in other reasoning areas as well,” said Brown. “The progress has been incredibly fast. I don’t see any reason to think it will slow down.”
These techniques may help OpenAI’s models become more performant, gains that could show up in the company’s upcoming GPT-5 model. OpenAI hopes to assert its dominance over competitors with the launch of GPT-5, ideally offering the best AI model to power agents for developers and consumers.
But the company also wants to make its products simpler to use. El Kishky says OpenAI wants to develop AI agents that intuitively understand what users want, without requiring them to select specific settings. He says OpenAI aims to build AI systems that understand when to call up certain tools, and how long to reason for.
These ideas paint a picture of an ultimate version of ChatGPT: an agent that can do anything on the internet for you, and understand how you want it to be done. That’s a much different product than what ChatGPT is today, but the company’s research is squarely headed in this direction.
While OpenAI undoubtedly led the AI industry a few years ago, the company now faces a tranche of worthy opponents. The question is no longer just whether OpenAI can deliver its agentic future, but can the company do so before Google, Anthropic, xAI, or Meta beat them to it?
New Delhi, Aug 3 (PTI) Commodity prices witnessed sharp swings last week, with base metal copper dropping nearly 2 per cent while gold gained over 1 per cent after US President Donald Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on most Indian goods. Fresh tariff announcements by Trump fanned fears of a global trade war, leading to a rout in base metals while safe-haven demand lifted precious metal gold last week, analysts said. They said the unexpected US tariff structure, especially on semi-finished copper goods, sent shockwaves across global commodity markets, with copper prices tumbling sharply and crude oil showing mixed trends amid geopolitical concerns.
–Copper crashes as US slaps tariffs on semi-finished imports– Copper was the worst-hit among base metals as the Trump administration imposed a steep 50 per cent tariff on imports of semi-finished copper goods such as wires, tubes and rods. The new duties will come into force from August 7. However, refined copper, ores, and cathodes were excluded from the levy, creating uncertainty in global supply chains. On MCX, the August contract of copper fell by Rs 16.35 or 1.82 per cent last week. On July 31, copper prices dropped by Rs 36 or 4 per cent to hit an all-time low of Rs 861.70 per kg. On COMEX, copper prices initially fell nearly 22 per cent from peak levels before rebounding by 1.79 per cent to close at USD 4.45 per pound. LME Copper futures ended the week up 0.31 per cent at USD 9,639.60 per tonne. “President Trump’s tariff announcements have sent shockwaves across global commodity markets, particularly metals. The US imposed a 50 per cent tariff on semi-finished copper products, a 25 per cent levy on Indian imports, and additional trade penalties related to Russian energy transactions,” Riya Singh – Research Analyst, Commodities and Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services, said. “MCX copper prices dropped from Rs 900 to Rs 861 in just three sessions before stabilising. The exclusion of raw forms like cathodes from the tariff list has led to confusion in price discovery,” Singh added. She noted that traders exited long positions aggressively, leading to the largest weekly outflow in over a year and adding that “India imported over USD 1.4 billion worth of refined and semi-refined copper in FY24. With the US market restricted, these goods may be diverted to India, risking margin pressure for local fabricators”. According to Heena Naik, Research Analyst – Commodities, Angel One, the US administration initially hinted at wide-ranging copper tariffs, causing a rush of shipments into the US ahead of the August 1 deadline. “Now, with refined copper excluded from the tariff list, there are concerns of re-exports and a potential oversupply. The sudden narrowing of the tariff scope has disrupted the global copper supply chain,” she said. Naik also highlighted China’s indirect exposure, being the world’s top producer of copper products, and added that base metals broadly fell over 1.5 per cent last week amid weak demand and tariff headwinds.
— Gold and silver trade mixed — On the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX), gold futures for October delivery rose Rs 1,292 or 1.3 per cent last week. In global markets, COMEX gold futures surged USD 51 or 1.52 per cent to settle at USD 3,413.80 per ounce in New York on Saturday. Silver, on the other hand, extended losses. MCX silver futures for September delivery plunged Rs 2,829 or 2.5 per cent to end the week lower. COMEX silver futures managed marginal gains of 0.59 per cent to close at USD 37.08 per ounce. “Gold continues to be viewed as a reliable store of value, especially with the US Fed maintaining a restrictive policy stance and global uncertainties flaring,” said Riya Singh, Research Analyst – Commodities and Currency at Emkay Global Financial Services. She noted that gold has gained nearly 25 per cent year-to-date, peaking above USD 3,500 per ounce in April on the back of Middle East tensions and inflation worries. “Silver, however, faced a dual impact of industrial weakness and ETF-led support. It is under pressure due to weak Chinese PMI data, but strong ETF holdings and robust COMEX inventories offer a cushion,” Singh added.
— Crude oil sees mixed cues — Crude oil futures posted a mixed performance, with the MCX futures for August delivery rising by Rs 100 or 1.73 per cent. Globally, Brent crude futures fell by 3.94 per cent to USD 69.67 per barrel, while WTI crude slipped 2.79 per cent to USD 67.33 per barrel. Riya Singh said, “Brent retreated from USD 67.74 to USD 71.26 after failing to sustain five-week highs. Demand concerns from geopolitical uncertainty and trade disruptions kept the rally in check”. She highlighted that India’s crude imports are particularly vulnerable, with around 35 per cent coming from Russia. Adding that any secondary sanctions on Russian oil imports could force India to more expensive alternatives, which could impact domestic refiners such as IOC and Reliance, and affect the rupee. Heena Naik added that crude surged by over 5 per cent as investors focused on developments on the US President’s tighter deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine. However, a weak industrial demand and uncertainty over OPEC+ supply decisions kept oil prices under pressure.
— Commodities to see volatility this week — Analysts emphasised that as investors deal with the effects of US tariffs, China’s economic slowdown, and shifting geopolitical tensions, commodity markets are expected to be turbulent in the weeks ahead. “Price discovery has been skewed by Trump’s tariff structure, which targets semi-finished goods while excluding raw copper forms. Regarding demand and future trading channels, the market is still unclear,” Singh stated. Naik said that investors should prepare for ongoing fluctuations in base metals, energy, and precious metals due to policy uncertainty and the rising US dollar’s impact on global commodities.
