Every year, tens of thousands of the world's top cancer experts are brought together by the American Society of Clinical Oncologists to delve into the nitty-gritty world of clinical trial data and the never-ending search to find a better tool to fight the world's toughest killer. And each year, one of the drug developers touting their new pharmaceuticals walks away with the unofficial title of cancer drug champion as the reporters who cover the scene shine their spotlight on the greatest triumphs of the past 12 months. This year, virtually everyone at the annual meeting in Orlando in mid-May was willing to hand the crown to Genentech as this year's easy winner. It's not hard to see why.In the months leading up to the gathering, Genentech had sealed its dominant status with news on three major cancer drugs: Herceptin, Avastin and Tarceva. In several studies, Avastin - which works by starving tumors of blood - was linked to longer survival times for colon and breast cancer. And Genentech wowed researchers in Orlando with the news that Avastin also extended the lives of patients with advanced lung cancer by more than two months, a significant response in a field with extremely high mortality rates. "The study is particularly important given the magnitude of the improvement seen in progression-free survival, the study's primary endpoint," said Kathy D. Miller, M.D., of Indiana University and principal investigator for the study for Avastin as a frontline treatment for women with metastatic breast cancer. In another clinical trial, breast cancer patients taking Herceptin also saw extended longevity. And Tarceva was found to increase the lives of pancreatic cancer victims. "These are truly life-saving results in a major disease," said JoAnne Zujewski, MD, head of the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program. "(Herceptin) has a lot of impact," said Edith Perez, MD, chair of one of the studies and a medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. "We were hoping to get a 25 percent improvement and instead we found a 52 percent improvement. I'm really thrilled because we've changed the standard of care." At the center of attention is Genentech's trial's chief, Susan Desmond-Hellman, who continued to believe in the drugs' potential, designing new clinical trials even after early clinical data proved disappointing. That confidence has been borne out. Now a roster of analysts says that Avastin is poised to become a billion-dollar annual earner. And Wall Street couldn't be happier. Over the four-day ASCO event, Genentech stock gained $1.20 a share. Genentech "remains one of the premier biotechnology companies, based on the breadth of its clinical pipeline and scientific innovation," pronounced researchers at Piper Jaffray. Buoyed by investor enthusiasm, the 29-year-old Genentech earlier this year had already overtaken Amgen as the world's leading biotech as measured in market value. And with Amgen - still the biggest biotech as measured in revenue - warning of revenue trouble as the result of new Medicare reimbursement rules for its cancer drugs, Genentech's soaring fortunes is drawing increasingly intense accolades. In an interview at ASCO with BusinessWeek, Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson seemed to be worried most about overconfidence. "We've always had very aggressive goals," he said, "but this time we exceeded expectations. We've had a great last two years. We're not banking on hitting the ball out of the park like this every time though." In drug development, though, every big success is quickly imitated. And Pfizer appears set to start challenging this year's winner with its own new round of biotech cancer drugs. Pfizer has been developing Sutent in its research laboratories in La Jolla, which also attacks cancer cells by throttling their blood supply. Pfizer is spending a billion dollars on its biotech cancer drug programs. And if the company that made Viagra a household world has its way, future sessions of ASCO will be celebrating another big winner.