Highly lethal cancers

A significant number of cancers remain highly lethal despite recent progress in precision oncology. treatlink is committed to changing this by uncovering the full patient-specific biosignature of these tumors.

Defining the challenge

Of the ~20 million new malignant cancer cases per year globally, roughly 0.7 million remain highly lethal despite access to modern, biomarker-based oncology. This is the patient population treatlink is built to serve.

New cases per year globally
total malignant cancer
cases per year
~ 20 M
thereof lethal
~ 10 M
thereof median
overall survival ≤ 15 months
~ 2.5 M
thereof despite access to modern,
biomarker-based oncology
~ 0.7 M

treatlink's initial focus & beyond

Within the ~0.7 million highly lethal cases per year, treatlink starts with Glioblastoma — the indication where we believe our approach can make the biggest near-term difference. Other indications below share a similarly complex tumor biology and are part of our long-term roadmap.

New cases per year globally
Glioblastoma (GBM)Initial focus
~ 270,000
Distant Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC)
~ 170,000
Regional / advanced Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC)
~ 105,000
Distant Small-Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)
~ 85,000
Distant Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC)
~ 30,000
Distant Cholangiocarcinoma
~ 30,000
Distant Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer (NEPC)
~ 10,000

Similarities between these cancers

Despite very different origin in the body, these highly lethal cancers share biological characteristics that limit the success of today's standard and biomarker-based therapies.

High intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity
Longitudinal plasticity along various dimensions
High relapse rate
Fast development of resistances against therapies
Strong impact of the tumor micro-environment
Limited predictive value of established biomarkers

Sources: GLOBOCAN 2022, IARC 2024, WCRF 2024.

Our initial focus: Glioblastomatreatlink starts where the unmet need is greatest. Read on to learn why Glioblastoma is our initial focus and how we approach it.
Read about Glioblastoma
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