Why Targeted Therapies Are Important

Targeted cancer therapies may be more effective and less harmful to normal cells than current treatments.

Image courtesy of the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research

• Targeted therapies are designed to treat molecular and cellular abnormalities supporting cancer growth.
• The identification of these abnormalities and the development of drugs targeting these molecules represent important progress in cancer research and treatment.
• Some cancer drugs kill both healthy and unhealthy cells to produce strong side effects in people.
• Targeted therapies are generally less likely than some other cancer therapies to harm normal, healthy cells. As a result, people being treated with targeted therapies may experience less side effects compared with other forms of cancer treatment.