Big pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have set aside $1 billion to be put towards cancer research.

This sizable donation comes shortly after scientists proclaimed a new technology could revolutionize treatment for everything from Alzheimer’s to autoimmune diseases.

The new technology in question is known as “targeted protein degradation,” or “PROTAC.” The earliest focuses for PROTAC include cancer treatment and other serious medical conditions. There are many drivers of cancer which are widely known, but which modern medicine has remained unable to reach. Researchers are hoping that this may soon change with new technologies such as PROTAC.

The news has inspired much confidence on the part of big pharma, as companies like Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline have jumped aboard the wagon and put down some serious money. Biotech startups have also joined in, and the combined result is a series of investments totaling $1 billion so far.

This technology is still in its experimental phase and has been under development for over two decades. The first focus will be cancer, but it is expected that it’ll be used for many other conditions as well. PROTAC essentially gives scientists new ways of destroying disease-causing agents and removing them from the body entirely. For cancer in particular, these agents have been refereed to as “undrugable” in the past. Cancer will thus be the first and most important testing ground for experiments involving humans.