The Patent Cliff is Coming, Driving Smart Money Towards Precision Oncology
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equity-Insider.com News Commentary — Big money is moving back into biotech. Institutional investors have been writing some of the largest checks in years, with major financing rounds already closing in the first months of 2026[1], a sign that capital is rotating toward clinical-stage companies with validated science. That capital is not spreading evenly: it is concentrating on precision medicine, where the global oncology precision medicine market is projected to reach $303 billion by 2035[2], growing at approximately 9% annually as targeted cancer treatments move from promising idea to standard care. The five companies in this report, Oncolytics Biotech (NASDAQ:ONCY), OS Therapies (NYSE-A: OSTX), Sensei Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:SNSE), Atossa Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ATOS), and Tango Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TNGX), sit inside that window.
Institutions are positioning for what analysts at Goldman Sachs are calling a potential record-breaking year for pharma and biotech M&A[3], with the top 25 pharmaceutical companies holding a combined $1.3 trillion in acquisition firepower and pressure building to replace drugs going off patent. PwC's 2026 pharma deals outlook confirms that companies with differentiated clinical profiles are commanding elevated premiums[4], as buyers link capital directly to clean, de-risked data in hard-to-treat cancers. This structural shift creates a window for the companies that meet this criteria.
Oncolytics Biotech (NASDAQ:ONCY) is presenting new mechanistic and translational data at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego this April, data that adds scientific depth to the company's push into some of cancer's hardest-to-treat corners.
The two abstracts, drawn from the AWARE-1 breast cancer study and the GOBLET gastrointestinal cancer trial, both center on the same question: can pelareorep, the company's lead drug, make tumors more vulnerable to immunotherapy? The short answer, based on these findings, appears to be yes. In AWARE-1, biopsies showed pelareorep triggering the formation of tertiary lymphoid structures, essentially localized immune hubs that help the body mount a sustained attack on cancer cells.
Tumors that would otherwise stay "cold" and invisible to the immune system showed signs of becoming "hot." In GOBLET Cohort 1, patients with pancreatic cancer who showed early immune activation after four weeks on a pelareorep-based regimen lived longer without their disease progressing than those who did not, 7.5 months compared to 5.6 months. That same treatment combination previously posted a 62% objective response rate in first-line pancreatic cancer patients, more than double what chemotherapy alone has historically produced.
The data matter because they help explain the results Oncolytics has already reported in colorectal cancer, where the backdrop is equally encouraging. The company recently launched REO 033, a randomized Phase 2 trial testing pelareorep alongside bevacizumab and FOLFIRI in second-line RAS-mutated, microsatellite-stable metastatic colorectal cancer, a patient group with very few good treatment options today.
The trial builds on earlier results from REO 022, where the same drug combination produced 27 months of overall survival, 11.2 months of progression-free survival, and a 33% objective response rate, against 16.6 months, 5.7 months, and roughly 10% for the standard of care. The FDA took notice, granting the regimen Fast Track Designation earlier this year. The second-line KRAS-mutant colorectal cancer market is estimated at $3 to $5 billion annually. REO 033 expects to open its first site next month, with preliminary data targeted for year-end 2026.
Oncolytics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that has spent years building a scientific case for pelareorep across multiple tumor types. Across anal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and now colorectal cancer, the drug is accumulating a consistent body of evidence as something that may make other gastrointestinal cancer treatments work better. That kind of backbone role, if confirmed in larger trials, could position Oncolytics as a meaningful partner in the broader immuno-oncology landscape, where combination strategies are increasingly where the field is heading.
CONTINUED… Read this and more news for Oncolytics Biotech at: https://equity-insider.com/2025/03/18/is-oncolytics-biotech-the-markets-most-undervalued-cancer-opportunity/
In other industry developments:
OS Therapies (NYSE-A: OSTX) announced that the FDA elevated its Type D Biomarker Meeting to a Type B pre-BLA Meeting for OST-HER2, the company's listeria-based immunotherapy targeting the prevention or delay of recurrent, fully resected, pulmonary metastatic osteosarcoma under the Accelerated Approval Program. The elevation signals a transition from biomarker data review to broader Accelerated Approval discussions, with the meeting expected shortly after OS Therapies completes its clinical data package submission, targeted for the end of Q1 2026.
"We credit FDA with taking decisive action to help advance Accelerated Approval discussions regarding OST-HER2 for pediatric cancer patients with osteosarcoma," said Paul Romness, MPH, Chairman and CEO of OS Therapies. "With the biomarker analysis complete, and patent filings in process, we are poised to deliver data to the agency that we believe represents surrogate clinical efficacy sufficient to enable our ongoing BLA submission."
OS Therapies holds FDA Orphan Drug, Fast Track, and Rare Pediatric Disease Designations for OST-HER2; if the company receives Accelerated Approval, it becomes eligible for a Priority Review Voucher, which can be sold, and a recent comparable transaction reached $205 million in February 2026. The company is targeting Accelerated Approval in 2H 2026 and expects Phase 1b data for its OST-504 candidate in castration-resistant prostate cancer in the first half of 2026.
Sensei Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:SNSE) recently acquired Faeth Therapeutics and secured $200 million in concurrent private placement financing to advance its oncology pipeline in endometrial and breast cancer. The transaction brings PIKTOR (an investigational all-oral multi-node inhibitor of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway) into Sensei's portfolio, with a completed Phase 1b trial demonstrating a 47% overall response rate and a 71% response rate in patients with PI3K pathway mutations.
"In the PI3K pathway, the field has repeatedly run into the same constraint. Single-node inhibitors force a tradeoff between efficacy and tolerability," said Anand Parikh, Co-Founder of Faeth Therapeutics and new COO and Director of Sensei. "PIKTOR is designed to change that tradeoff by inhibiting PI3K-alpha and mTORC1/2 simultaneously, and we believe we can achieve more complete pathway suppression with improved tolerability. We saw the signal in our Phase 1b, including a number of complete responses in endometrial cancer patients after multiple prior lines of therapy. This financing takes us through topline Phase 2 data in that population and advances the Phase 1b breast cancer program."
Sensei expects to use the $200 million proceeds primarily to advance PIKTOR through key milestones, including topline data from an ongoing Phase 2 trial in second-line advanced endometrial cancer and initiation of a Phase 1b trial in HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer, both targeted for year-end 2026. The company continues to advance a Phase 1/2 trial of solnerstotug, its VISTA inhibitor, alongside the newly acquired asset.
Atossa Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ATOS) issued a shareholder letter earlier last month, outlining 2025 accomplishments and its 2026 clinical roadmap for lead candidate (Z)-endoxifen, a proprietary oral Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator/Degrader (SERM/SERD) advancing across multiple breast cancer settings, including neoadjuvant I-SPY 2 combination studies with abemaciclib and elagolix, with preliminary data expected throughout 2026. Preliminary monotherapy I-SPY 2 data in twenty newly diagnosed ER+/HER2- breast cancer patients demonstrated favorable tolerability and reductions in Ki-67 expression, functional tumor volume, and index lesion diameter, while the EVANGELINE neoadjuvant study with the Mayo Clinic is expected to complete enrollment by mid-2026 and report preliminary data in late 2026.
Atossa Therapeutics enters 2026 with more than $40 million in cash supporting over one year of working capital, and recently completed a reverse stock split effective February 2, 2026, to regain Nasdaq listing compliance. Beyond oncology, Atossa Therapeutics holds FDA Orphan Drug and Rare Pediatric Disease Designations for (Z)-endoxifen in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, designations that create eligibility for a Priority Review Voucher upon approval and meaningful non-dilutive value potential, while the company is also evaluating (Z)-endoxifen in McCune-Albright Syndrome and other rare disease indications aligned with capital efficiency priorities.
Tango Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TNGX) recently reported fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results with a cash position of $343.1 million as of December 31, 2025, providing runway into 2028 beyond key anticipated data inflection points for its lead program vopimetostat. Full-year 2025 collaboration revenue reached $62.4 million compared to $30.0 million in 2024, with a net loss of $101.6 million, or $0.87 per share, improved from a $130.3 million net loss in the prior year.
"We enter 2026 with a clear focus on execution, building on the significant progress achieved across our development portfolio in 2025," said Malte Peters, M.D., President and CEO of Tango Therapeutics. "Our lead clinical program, vopimetostat, continues to demonstrate best-in-class potential, and we are on track to launch our first pivotal study in 2L pancreatic cancer this year. Strong enrollment continues in the combination study with Revolution Medicines' RAS(ON) inhibitors, and we are encouraged by the early safety and efficacy data."
Tango Therapeutics also entered a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Erasca to evaluate vopimetostat in combination with ERAS-0015, a pan-RAS molecular glue, further positioning vopimetostat as a potential preferred PRMT5 inhibitor for RAS inhibitor combination therapy. Initial Phase 1/2 safety and efficacy data from the vopimetostat plus RAS(ON) inhibitor combination trial are anticipated in 2026, with a monotherapy pivotal study start in second-line pancreatic cancer also targeted for the year.
Article Source: equity-insider.com
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SOURCES:
- https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/fierce-biotech-fundraising-tracker-26
- https://www.researchnester.com/reports/precision-oncology-market/5663
- https://www.pharmavoice.com/news/deal-merger-acquisition-pharma-2026-drug/807450/
- https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/library/pharma-life-sciences-deals-outlook.html
