California’s Life Science Industry: Advancing the Fight Against Cancer

September is a time to recognize the patients, families, caregivers, clinicians and researchers whose work and experiences continue to shape the fight against cancer. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the life science innovation happening across California—from academic laboratories and cancer centers to patient advocacy organizations and biopharma companies developing the next generation of therapies.

Five cancer awareness observances this month highlight diseases that affect patients across generations:

• Blood Cancer Awareness Month: Blood cancers have helped lead the way in new approaches that harness the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. One example is CAR T-cell therapy, which takes a patient’s immune cells, equips them to recognize cancer, and returns them to the body to attack it. Researchers are working to make these treatments safer, longer-lasting and available to more patients—and are exploring how this technology could be used against other types of cancer.
  
• Childhood Cancer Awareness Month: New treatments are giving families more options when children face difficult-to-treat cancers. One recent example is dordaviprone (Modeyso), developed by Jazz Pharmaceuticals and approved by the FDA in 2025 for certain children and adults with a rare and aggressive brain cancer called diffuse midline glioma. The treatment was developed specifically for tumors carrying a particular genetic change, demonstrating how a deeper understanding of cancer can lead to more targeted treatments.
  
• Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month: Researchers and life science companies are pursuing new ways to treat ovarian cancer, particularly when existing treatments are no longer effective. In March 2026, the FDA approved relacorilant (Lifyorli), developed by Corcept Therapeutics, for certain patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. At the same time, researchers are exploring innovative approaches, including new forms of cell therapy, that could give the immune system new ways to recognize and attack ovarian cancer.
  
• Prostate Cancer Awareness Month: New technologies are helping doctors find and treat prostate cancer more precisely. Pluvicto, developed by Novartis, is a treatment that uses a molecule that seeks out a protein commonly found on prostate cancer cells and delivers radiation directly to those cells. In 2026, the FDA expanded the use of Pluvicto to certain patients with metastatic prostate cancer, bringing this targeted approach to more people earlier in their treatment journey.
  
• Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month: Scientists are learning more about the genetic changes that can contribute to thyroid cancer, opening the door to more targeted treatments. Changes involving genes such as RET and NTRK can sometimes help drive cancer growth. Newer medicines designed to target these changes are an example of personalized medicine—using information about the cancer itself to help identify treatments that may be appropriate for an individual patient.

These innovations represent more than new medicines. They reflect a fundamental shift in cancer research—from treating cancers primarily by where they originate to understanding the molecular characteristics that make each cancer unique. California’s life science ecosystem is helping turn that understanding into new possibilities. 

This September, we honor everyone affected by cancer and recognize the scientists, entrepreneurs, clinicians and biopharma innovators working to make cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment increasingly precise and personalized.

For more information visit: www.cancer.org or www.cancer.org/about-us/local/california.html.