Two scientists made huge bets on 'impossible' cancer treatments. They're finally paying off.

Tal Zaks, the former chief medical officer of Moderna, said he took "a very large financial bet just based on first principle beliefs." Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Klick Health 2026 is the year of the cancer breakthrough, with innovations from Revolution Medicines and Moderna. "I'm almost tired of saying paradigm shift, but I haven't figured out a new phrase," one expert said. Innovators Greg Verdine and Tal Zaks pushed boundaries with risky, groundbreaking experiments. Short sellers love to profit from biotech's big fails. The category remains their favorite to bet against because roughly two-thirds of publicly traded biotech companies ultimately go broke one way or another, losing money for investors. This summer, however, that strategy went bust. Biotech has experienced unusual success with some of the category's biggest, longest cancer moonshots coming to fruition.