Cancer Drug Spending Is Headed Past $400 Billion as Colorectal and Pancreatic Cancers Move Up the Research Agenda

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Equity Insider News Commentary - Global spending on cancer medicines reached $252 billion in 2024 and is forecast to exceed $400 billion by 2028, according to the IQVIA Institute, with the United States accounting for roughly 46% of the total. The pace of new treatments has picked up with it: about 150 new active substances entered the U.S. oncology market between 2015 and 2024, and launch activity in 2020 to 2024 ran nearly 40% ahead of the prior five years. Active Companies from around the markets with current developments this week include: Oncolytics Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY), Revolution Medicines, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVMD), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), Genmab A/S (NASDAQ: GMAB), Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL).

The past several weeks have shown how quickly that pipeline is turning into new standards of care. On August 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first broad RAS-targeted medicine for metastatic pancreatic cancer, one of the hardest-to-treat solid tumors. In the first two weeks of October, regulators approved a new first-line use for a blood cancer therapy, a first-line maintenance treatment for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and a checkpoint inhibitor combination for stage III mismatch repair-deficient colon cancer, while two large Phase 3 trials in lymphoma and multiple myeloma reported positive topline results.

Gastrointestinal cancers are drawing a growing share of that attention. RAS mutations drive many pancreatic and colorectal tumors, and for years they were considered nearly impossible to drug. Colorectal cancer adds a second challenge: most metastatic cases are microsatellite stable, a form that has generally responded poorly to the checkpoint inhibitors that transformed treatment in other cancers. Companies are attacking the problem from several directions, with targeted RAS inhibitors, new drug combinations and therapies designed to make tumors more visible to the immune system.

Investors will get a fresh look at much of this work soon. The European Society for Medical Oncology holds its 2026 Congress in Madrid from October 23 to 27, one of the largest annual meetings for new cancer data, and two of the companies below have pointed to colorectal cancer updates before year-end.

Oncolytics Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY)

Oncolytics is developing pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immunotherapy designed to turn immunologically "cold" tumors "hot," and colorectal cancer is now at the center of its clinical plans. On September 28 the company reported accelerating enrollment in REO 033, a randomized study in second-line RAS-mutant, microsatellite-stable metastatic colorectal cancer that compares pelareorep plus FOLFIRI and bevacizumab with FOLFIRI and bevacizumab alone. Part A is expected to randomize about 60 patients, with objective response rate as the primary endpoint and progression-free survival, overall survival, safety and biomarkers as additional endpoints.

The study builds on REO 022, a smaller non-randomized trial in which the same pelareorep combination produced a 33% objective response rate, median progression-free survival of 16.6 months and median overall survival of 27.0 months. Oncolytics has said it aligned with the FDA on the concept of a potential pivotal Part B expansion, with a proposed accelerated approval path based on response rate and progression-free survival as the basis for potential full approval. Pelareorep holds FDA Fast Track designation in colorectal, anal and pancreatic cancer and has been administered to more than 1,200 patients.

"Given the current pace of enrollment, we expect to have the ability to report interim data from Part A by year-end," said John McAdory, Chief Operating Officer.

The company has also been adding scientific support around the program. In September it reported preclinical results combining pelareorep with a pan-RAS inhibitor in a RAS-driven colorectal cancer model, in which the combination showed no evidence of antagonism, and it announced a peer-reviewed publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing that pelareorep changed the liver tumor microenvironment from immunologically inactive to active in preclinical models.

CONTINUED... Read more oncology sector coverage at: Equity Insider

In other industry developments and happenings in the market this week include:

Revolution Medicines, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVMD)

Revolution Medicines announced on August 26 that the FDA approved RASONQUE (daraxonrasib), a once-daily oral tablet, for adults with metastatic pancreatic cancer who have received at least one prior systemic therapy or cannot receive multiagent therapy. In the Phase 3 RASolute 302 trial, median overall survival was 13.2 months with daraxonrasib versus 6.7 months with chemotherapy. The company has said it expects to share updated colorectal cancer data and strategy in the fourth quarter of 2026.

"The FDA approval of RASONQUE is a monumental step forward for patients with pancreatic cancer and for the oncology field," said Mark A. Goldsmith, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Chairman.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY)

Lilly announced on October 2 that the FDA approved Jaypirca (pirtobrutinib) for adults with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma without a known 17p deletion. In the BRUIN CLL-313 trial, Jaypirca reduced the risk of progression or death by 80% compared with bendamustine plus rituximab, with an overall response rate of 94% versus 81%.

Genmab A/S (NASDAQ: GMAB)

Genmab and AbbVie announced on October 5 that the Phase 3 EPCORE DLBCL-2 trial of epcoritamab plus R-CHOP met its primary endpoint in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, reducing the risk of progression or death by 51% compared with R-CHOP alone. The companies plan to present the data at a future medical meeting and to engage with global regulators.

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXEL)

Exelixis disclosed that the FDA extended its review of zanzalintinib in combination with atezolizumab for metastatic colorectal cancer by three months after the company submitted updated safety and efficacy information, which the agency classed as a major amendment. The new target action date is March 3, 2027.

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