World Cancer Day: Progress Made, Gaps That Still Matter

World Cancer Day is a moment to take stock of how far cancer science and care have progressed, and where the hardest challenges still remain. Over recent decades, advances in early detection, precision medicine, immunotherapy, and supportive care have reshaped cancer outcomes across many indications. Expanded screening programs, improved diagnostics, and preventive strategies such as HPV and hepatitis vaccinations have reduced the burden of several cancers and improved survival rates[1]. Public awareness initiatives have also strengthened understanding of modifiable risk factors, including tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and environmental exposures[2].

Despite these advances, progress has not been uniform. Millions of people worldwide still lack access to timely diagnosis, effective treatment, and quality palliative care, particularly in low- and middle-income regions[3]. Health inequities, late-stage presentation, and misinformation continue to limit the impact of existing tools and therapies. As global cancer incidence continues to rise, World Cancer Day highlights the need for healthcare systems that are not only innovative, but resilient, evidence-based, and capable of delivering progress where it is most difficult to achieve.

Advancements in the Detection of Cancer

Cancer detection has undergone significant transformation in recent years, enabling earlier diagnosis, greater accuracy, and improved outcomes. Traditional methods such as imaging, biopsy, and histopathology remain foundational, but they are increasingly complemented by molecular and digital technologies. High-resolution imaging techniques, including PET-CT, MRI, and low-dose CT scans, have improved the detection of tumors at earlier, more treatable stages, particularly in lung, breast, and colorectal cancers[4].

Among the most promising advances is liquid biopsy, which enables the detection of cancer-related genetic mutations, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), and other biomarkers from blood or body fluids[5]. This minimally invasive approach supports early diagnosis, real-time disease monitoring, and evaluation of treatment response. In parallel, next-generation sequencing (NGS) allows comprehensive genomic profiling, helping identify tumor-specific alterations and guide more personalized therapeutic strategies[6].

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are also becoming integral to radiology and pathology, improving image interpretation, improving screening efficiency, and reducing diagnostic variability[7]. Advances in biomarker discovery, spanning protein, metabolic, and immune signatures, further strengthen early detection strategies. Together, these innovations are shifting cancer diagnosis toward earlier, more precise, and more individualized approaches, improving survival and quality of care worldwide.

Advances in the Treatment of Cancer

Cancer treatment has advanced remarkably over the past two decades, moving from largely non-specific interventions toward more targeted and personalized approaches. Targeted therapies now act on defined genetic mutations or molecular pathways that drive tumor growth, improving effectiveness while limiting damage to healthy tissue[8]. Therapies directed against HER2 in breast cancer, EGFR in lung cancer, and BRAF in melanoma exemplify this precision-based approach[9].

Immunotherapy has emerged as one of the most transformative developments in oncology. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T cell therapies, and cancer vaccines harness the immune system to recognize and eliminate malignant cells, delivering durable responses in cancers once considered difficult to treat[10]. Combination strategies that integrate immunotherapy with chemotherapy, radiation, or targeted agents have further expanded treatment possibilities.

Radiation therapy has also advanced, with techniques such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), proton therapy, and stereotactic radiosurgery enabling precise tumor targeting while minimizing harm to surrounding tissue[11]. Surgical innovation, including minimally invasive and robotic-assisted procedures, has reduced complications and recovery times.

Collectively, these advances have reshaped cancer care, improving survival, disease control and quality of life.

Challenges in the Detection and Treatment of Cancer

Despite scientific and clinical progress, substantial challenges remain. Many cancers are asymptomatic in their early stages, leading to diagnosis only after disease progression[12]. Limited access to screening programs, diagnostic tools, and trained healthcare professionals, particularly in resource-constrained settings, further delays early identification. Socioeconomic barriers, fear, stigma, and misinformation continue to discourage timely medical evaluation, weakening prevention and early detection strategies.

Biological complexity adds another layer of difficulty. Tumor heterogeneity and the absence of universally reliable biomarkers complicate early and accurate diagnosis[13]. Even advanced imaging and molecular tools may fail to detect certain cancers at their earliest stages, highlighting the need for more sensitive, affordable, and accessible diagnostic solutions.

Treatment challenges are equally significant. Cancer cells can develop resistance to chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies, leading to disease progression or relapse[14]. Tumor diversity across individuals limits the effectiveness of standardized treatment approaches, reinforcing the need for strategies that adapt to cancer’s resilience.

Treatment-related toxicities, high costs, and uneven access to advanced therapies further widen global disparities in outcomes[15]. Addressing these challenges requires innovation grounded in strong biological understanding, alongside sustained investment in research and healthcare infrastructure.

The Significance of World Cancer Day

Observed annually on February 4, World Cancer Day unites the global community in raising awareness and advancing action across prevention, early detection, treatment, and care. It provides a platform to share evidence-based information on cancer risk factors, warning signs, and the value of screening, empowering individuals to make informed health decisions and seek care earlier.

Beyond awareness, World Cancer Day highlights the importance of equitable access to quality healthcare. It draws attention to disparities in outcomes across regions and populations, advocating for policies that support affordable diagnosis, treatment, and supportive care. It also emphasizes the need for care models that address physical, emotional, and social dimensions of cancer.

World Cancer Day is ultimately a call to collective responsibility, honoring those affected, supporting caregivers, and reinforcing global commitment to advancing research, strengthening healthcare systems, and tackling cancers that remain hardest to treat. It is a reminder that meaningful progress depends not only on innovation, but on ensuring that innovation is capable of addressing the cancers that remain most difficult to treat.

References:

1. Brotherton, J. M., La Montagne, D. S., & Bloem, P. J. (2025). Global status of HPV vaccination two decades in: effective, safe and preventing cancer. Expert Review of Vaccines, (just-accepted), 2609869.

2. Scott, J. N. (2025). Quantifying Modifiable Lifestyle Behaviors and Influences Associated With Preventable Cancers in Selected Rural Counties: A Mixed Method Study (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Dakota).

3. Barragan-Carrillo, R., Asirwa, F. C., Dienstmann, R., Pendhakar, D., & Ruiz-Garcia, E. (2025). Global oncology: tackling disparities and promoting innovations in low-and middle-income countries. American Society of Clinical Oncology Educational Book, 45(3), e473930.

4. Kumar, M., Sahu, S., Verma, A., Kumar, N., Yadav, G., & Singh, A. P. (2025). Emerging Imaging Modalities for Early Cancer Detection: A Review.

5. Coppola, C. A., De Summa, S., Matera, G., Pilato, B., Traversa, D., & Tommasi, S. (2025). Liquid Biopsy: The Challenges of a Revolutionary Approach in Oncology. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 26(11), 5013.

6. Molla, G., & Bitew, M. (2025). The future of cancer diagnosis and treatment: Unlocking the power of biomarkers and personalized molecular-targeted therapies. Journal of Molecular Pathology, 6(3), 20.

7. Pérez-Sanpablo, A. I., Quinzaños-Fresnedo, J., Gutiérrez-Martínez, J., Lozano-Rodríguez, I. G., & Roldan-Valadez, E. (2025). Transforming medical imaging: the role of artificial intelligence integration in PACS for enhanced diagnostic accuracy and workflow efficiency. Current Medical Imaging, 21(1), e15734056370620.

8. Maqsood, Q., Khan, M. U., Fatima, T., Khalid, S., & Malik, Z. I. (2025). Recent insights into breast cancer: molecular Pathways, epigenetic Regulation, and emerging targeted therapies. Breast Cancer: Basic and Clinical Research, 19, 11782234251355663.

9. Jamalinia, M., & Weiskirchen, R. (2025). Advances in personalized medicine: translating genomic insights into targeted therapies for cancer treatment. Annals of Translational Medicine, 13(2), 18.

10. Kumar, V., Wajpeyi, S. M., Yadav, P., & Tarare, B. (2025). Pharmacological Strategies in Cancer Immunotherapy: Advancing Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, CAR-T Cell Therapies, and Cancer Vaccines. Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics, 0976500X251398611.

11. Algranati, C. (2025). Technological advances in external beam radiotherapy. Study of new treatment strategies.

12. Mannucci, A., & Goel, A. (2025). Advances in pancreatic cancer early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment: The past, the present, and the future. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

13. Colonna, G. (2025). Overcoming barriers in cancer biology research: current limitations and solutions. Cancers, 17(13), 2102.

14. Mathan, S. V., & Singh, R. P. (2025). Cancer Stem Cells Connecting to Immunotherapy: Key Insights, Challenges, and Potential Treatment Opportunities. Cancers, 17(13), 2100.

15. Tfayli, A. H., El‐Halabi, L. N., & Khuri, F. R. (2025). Global disparities in cancer care: Bridging the gap in affordability and access to medications between high and low‐income countries. Cancer, 131(1), e35590.

Jacek Antas

Chief Executive Officer

Jacek Antas is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 25 years in the financial services industry holding various positions in sales and consulting.

Mr. Antas obtained a master’s degree from the Warsaw School of Economics and has served as a board member of various
companies throughout his career.

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James B. Murphy

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Murphy is a certified public accountant with over thirty years of experience in finance and operations management. He is currently a consultant with Danforth Advisors LLC (“Danforth”), a leading provider of outsourced strategic and operational specialists across functions in the life sciences industry. While at Danforth, Mr. Murphy has served over fifteen private and publicly held life sciences companies as CFO and CFO Advisor, helping them secure over USD 0.5 billion in financing and successfully execute pivotal asset transactions. Mr. Murphy functions as a consultant to Helix pursuant to a consulting agreement between the Company and Danforth.

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Thomas Mehrling

Medical Adviser

Thomas Mehrling (PhD in Pharmacology and MD) has over 20 years’ experience in multinational Pharma companies developing novel oncology compounds from preclinical research through to registration. Prior to entering the industry, he spent 13 years as an MD at the University Hospital in Frankfurt, working on preclinical and translational projects. He served as Director of European Oncology at Mundipharma International (2003–2013), building the company’s first European oncology business from the ground up out of Cambridge, UK, and completing the clinical development, registration and launch of two major products in Europe, DepoCyte® and Levact® (Ribomustin® and Treanda®). In 2013, he led the establishment of the Mundipharma Group’s start-up, Mundipharma EDO, developing anti-cancer therapeutics for solid tumours out of Basel, Switzerland.

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Kim Gaspar

Director Quality Assurance

Kim is the Director of Quality Assurance at Helix BioPharma Corp. An experienced quality assurance professional with expertise in Canadian, US, and EU regulations, she has been involved in all aspects of Phase I/II biopharmaceutical product development over the years, including regulatory submissions, QC laboratory compliance, tech transfer and third-party oversight of CMC activities, clinical QA, and bioanalytical data analysis. Kim joined Helix in 2000, transitioning into QA in 2003. She holds a B.Sc in Biochemistry and a Ph.D in Veterinary Physiological Sciences, both from the University of Saskatchewan.

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Brenda Lee

Director Clinical Operations

Brenda is the Clinical Operations Director at Helix Biopharma Corp. A clinical research operations professional with 25 years of experience managing clinical trials, ranging from early Phase I to late Phase IIIb/IV studies, she brings experience in clinical study protocol writing and development, trial start-up and vendor management, and a proven track record in planning and managing clinical trials to quality standards, timelines and budget. Brenda joined Helix Biopharma Corp. in 2018, working to advance the clinical program of L-DOS47. She holds B.Sc and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Toronto, specializing in Nutritional Sciences and Human Biology.

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Jerzy Leszczynski

Director

Jerzy Leszczynski is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 35 years developing businesses and has served in the capacity of board member of various real estate development companies. Mr. Leszczynski obtained his Master of Science in Chemistry from the Warsaw Institute of Technology.

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Janusz Grabski

Director, Chair of Audit Committee

Janusz (John) Grabski is a lawyer specialized in corporate and real estate law with over twenty years of experience.

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Malgorzata Laube

Director

Malgorzata Laube has over 19 years of experience in nuclear medicine. In her last role with Alberta Health Services, she was the Department Supervisor, Nuclear Medicine at Royal Alexandra Hospital. Ms. Laube obtained a MSc degree in Environmental Engineering from the Warsaw University of Technology and is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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Jacek Antas

Chairman of the Board

Jacek Antas is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 25 years in the financial services industry holding various positions in sales and consulting.

Mr. Antas obtained a master’s degree from the Warsaw School of Economics and has served as a board member of various
companies throughout his career.

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Jonathan Davis

Advisor, ADC Discovery

Jonathan Davis received his Ph.D. from University of California, San Francisco, where he studied protein structure and function using NMR. After a post-doc at Harvard Medical School exploring RNA selection and structure in the labs of Jack Szostak and Gerhard Wagner, he went to work at EMD Serono, where his work involved improving antibody-based therapeutics, inventing a platform technology for generating heterodimeric Fcs as a basis for multifunctional molecules, and developing a novel scaffold based on an artificially-designed protein from David Baker’s lab. In 2008 he took a job at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Waltham/Cambridge MA, working on antibody discovery and platform development in a wide range of therapeutic areas, with a particular focus on multispecific therapeutics. He moved to Madison, WI in 2019 to take on the role of VP of Innovation and Strategy at Invenra, a biotech focused on bispecific antibodies, and where he is currently head of the Scientific Advisory Board. In early 2024 he left the corporate world to found Creative Antibodies, a consulting firm that helps guide companies to successful antibody discovery and development projects, from mAbs to multispecifics, ADCs, and other formats. Outside of science, Jonathan is a conservatory trained cellist, plays numerous other instruments, and founded the UCSF Orchestra (now Symphony Parnassus) in San Francisco, where he was Music Director for six years.

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Davide Guggi

Advisor, CMC

Davide graduated as a pharmacist and received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology and Biotechnology from the University of Vienna. He has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, principally in the field of oncology. At the beginning of his career, Davide led oncology business units and commercial departments at Mundipharma and Gilead across Austria and Eastern Europe. Since over 10 years he has been working as a CMC expert, covering operational and regulatory CMC functions on behalf of over 20 different small- and medium-sized biotech companies across the world. He has served as CMC Director and CSO/CTO for several years, developing both small molecules and biologics (mABs, Fab, ADCs and Radio-immuno-conjugates) from early discovery to NDA/BLA in the US, EU and Canada, with a focus on First-in-Human and Phase I/II studies in oncology indications.

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Tumor Defense Breaker™, L-DOS47

L‑DOS47 is a first‑in‑class, clinical-stage antibody‑enzyme conjugate designed to deliver a game-changing assist to anti-cancer immunity and today’s leading cancer immunotherapies for the treatment of prevalent, hard-to-treat solid tumors. The compound precisely targets CEACAM6, a cell-surface protein overexpressed in non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other aggressive tumors, where it delivers an enzymatic payload that raises the extracellular pH of the acidic tumor microenvironment (TME). By neutralizing tumor acidity, L-DOS47 restores immune cell infiltration and activity, helps turn immunologically “cold” tumors “hot”, and enhances the therapeutic reach of immune checkpoint inhibitors. With patented composition-of-matter coverage through 2036 and demonstrated synergy with PD-1 inhibitor, pembrolizumab, L-DOS47 is poised to significantly increase the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade and unlock broader and more durable responses in NSCLC and other aggressive solid tumors.



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LEUMUNA™

LEUMUNA™ is an oral immune checkpoint modulator designed to activate the donor immune system to recognize and fight relapsing leukemia in patients who have undergone allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Although a life-saving procedure, up to 30% of patients who undergo allo-SCT see their cancer return, facing a median survival of just four months. LEUMUNA aims to offer these patients a new lease on life, by activating an immune cascade and inciting graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) effect, potentially offering long-term remission. Backed by strong preclinical data and a promising safety record from trials with its precursor compound, ulodesine, LEUMUNA offers a patient‑friendly, oral approach to a difficult-to-treat condition, with patent protection through 2041 and an Orphan Drug Designation granted by the US FDA.



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GEMCEDA™

GEMCEDA is a first-in-class oral prodrug of gemcitabine that opens up the possibility for convenient at-home administration, metronomic dosing and seamless integration into combination regimens with immune checkpoint inhibitors. To date, gemcitabine is only administered intravenously because oral forms have shown poor bioavailability of about 10%. GEMCEDA was developed as a prodrug to enable new uses of gemcitabine by combining it with cedazuridine, an enzyme inhibitor that helps boost its bioavailability to 90%. This remarkable innovation allows for greater flexibility in dosing schedules, fewer clinic visits, and a better quality of life, while achieving bioavailability on par with intravenous gemcitabine. Supported by a well‑established safety profile, scalable manufacturing, and patent coverage to 2043, GEMCEDA reimagines how chemotherapy can fit into patients’ lives.



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