Cancer treatment once meant a brutal choice between hope and suffering. But immunotherapy is rewriting that story, and September 2025 delivered proof that the transformation is accelerating.
The global oncology market, already valued at $321 billion in 2024, is racing toward $903 billion by 2034 with a 10.9% CAGR fueling unprecedented innovation.
Meanwhile, the cancer immunotherapy sector reached $137.70 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $261.74 billion by 2033 as major pharmaceutical companies unveiled breakthrough data at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin. That's why clinical-stage biotech companies are scrambling to prove their novel approaches can crack the code that Big Pharma has spent billions pursuing.
But one micro-cap biotech is delivering remarkable results with off-the-shelf immunotherapy where personalized CAR-T therapies cost up to $600,000 per patient.
Click here to discover how this $3 million clinical-stage developer is activating natural killer cells to achieve 61-63% blast reductions in multiply relapsed cancer patients with zero severe toxicity.
Five Oncology Companies Advancing Clinical Programs in Through October 2025
- Relay Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: RLAY) --- The company announced participation in two September investor conferences on August 28, 2025, showcasing RLY-2608, the first pan-mutant selective PI3Kα inhibitor achieving 10.3-month median progression-free survival in heavily pretreated HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer patients with its pivotal Phase 3 ReDiscover-2 trial now enrolling.
- Leap Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPTX) --- The company announced final clinical data from Part B of the DeFianCe study on September 25, 2025, presenting results at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress evaluating sirexatamab combined with bevacizumab and chemotherapy in advanced microsatellite stable colorectal cancer patients who received one prior systemic therapy.
- IO Biotech (NASDAQ: IOBT) --- The company announced a late-breaking abstract in advanced melanoma selected for oral presentation at ESMO Congress 2025 on September 4, 2025, highlighting results from the randomized Phase 3 trial of its IO102-IO103 cancer vaccine plus pembrolizumab for first-line advanced melanoma treatment with preparations for BLA submission remaining on track.
- Immutep Ltd (NASDAQ: IMMP) --- The company announced that data from its EFTISARC-NEO Phase II trial has been accepted for oral presentation at CTOS 2025 on September 9, 2025, a major oncology conference scheduled for November showcasing its LAG-3 immunotherapy platform designed to enhance anti-cancer immune responses across multiple solid tumor indications.
- Pyxis Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYXS) --- The company granted stock options to seven newly hired employees on September 30, 2025, signaling expansion of its clinical development team as it advances micvotabart pelidotin, a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate targeting EDB+FN in the tumor extracellular matrix with preliminary data expected from Phase 1 monotherapy expansion cohorts in recurrent and metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Market Forces Driving $640 Billion in Growth Over the Next Decade
Cancer remains relentless, but the response is accelerating. The World Health Organization estimates over 35 million new cancer cases by 2050, a staggering 77% increase from 20 million cases in 2022. That surge is flooding capital into companies developing next-generation immunotherapies, targeted therapies, and diagnostic technologies.
The United States is leading this charge. U.S. oncology spending has surged from $65 billion in 2019 to $99 billion in 2023, representing 45% of global spending, and is projected to reach $180 billion by 2028.
Meanwhile, the FDA approved more than 60 oncology therapies in 2024, including 11 first-in-class therapeutics, demonstrating that regulatory pathways are opening for innovative approaches.
Lung cancer alone accounts for 37% of the oncology market, yet breast cancer is growing fastest as incidence rates climb and novel treatments emerge. Immunotherapies now represent the cutting edge, with checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T cell therapies, and therapeutic cancer vaccines all showing promise.
Yet despite this progress, roughly 30% of patients who initially respond to first-line treatment will relapse, creating massive unmet need for second-line and consolidation therapies that can prevent recurrence before it happens.
Discover the $3 Million Biotech Cracking the Code Big Pharma Paid Billions For
The oncology transformation is racing forward. Major pharmaceutical companies have written nine-figure checks to license NK cell engager technology, recognizing these platforms could deliver immunotherapy benefits without the astronomical costs and manufacturing complexity of personalized CAR-T therapies.
But one micro-cap clinical-stage company owns its NK cell engager technology outright, with no revenue splits or licensing agreements. This developer is showing remarkable results in multiply relapsed patients who had exhausted multiple prior therapies, delivering 61-63% blast reductions with zero severe toxicity events in ongoing Phase 1 trials. The platform targets both blood cancers and solid tumors, with potential for subcutaneous self-administration rather than requiring specialized infusion centers.
Click here to discover which off-the-shelf immunotherapy platform is delivering patient responses where everything else failed, trading at just $3 million market cap while Big Pharma competitors paid hundreds of millions for similar early-stage technology.