Why It's Fierce: Back in the early 1990s, Professor Gert Riethmüller, director of the Institute Immunology of the University of Munich, demonstrated how cancer patients at a particular stage benefit from antibody-based treatments. Riethmüller brought together a team of researchers that have steadily pushed some promising drugs. The human antibody MT201 went into Phase I three years ago and is now in two Phase II trials for breast and prostate cancer. And the company has struck key partnership deals with the likes of MedImmune and most recently with Boehringer Ingelheim.

What to look for: Clinical results and new licensing and partnership agreements.