As a result of the progress made over the past decades in cancer
surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, about 40% of patients
with solid tumors who would otherwise have died can now be saved.
On the other hand, this means that despite advances such as
monoclonal antibodies and angiogenesis inhibitors, and market
introduction of new treatments based on these, some 7 million of
the 12 million new patients diagnosed with cancer around the world
each year continue to die (World Cancer Report 2008 of the WHO
International Agency for Research on Cancer). There thus remains
a tremendous medical need for effective new treatments.

According to the IMS 2008 Global Oncology Forecast, the market
size solely for cancer-treatment pharmaceuticals will reach more
than USD 75 billion in 2012, with an above-average long-term
growth rate of between 12 and 15%.

The market competitors of MagForce consist of a wide range of
pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical technology companies with
products for treating cancer, but these research behind these
products is almost entirely based on other approaches to therapy.

Glioblastoma is one of the rarer forms cancer. According to data
from the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States
(CBTRUS), just 3.1 new cases are diagnosed each year per
100,000 people. The mortality statistics for the disease, however,
remain devastating, with a five-year survival rate below 4%. It is
thus evident that new approaches to therapy with alternative
mechanisms of action are urgently needed. Within this patient
group, it can be assumed that virtually all therapies which may
help will be attempted in the course of the disease progression,
since there is as of yet no cure. Until now, all treatment methods
available for glioblastoma have at best the effect of extending life.

The cytostatic agent which is commonly used in patients with
glioblastoma 2008 generated revenues of over one billion U.S.
dollars last year (Schering-Plough Annual Report 2008). The typical
cost of a six-month treatment costs approximately EUR 13,000 in
Germany.