What is the availability of targeted therapies?
Some targeted therapies have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) for specific types of cancer, and are used "off-label" to treat other cancers.
Biological therapies are also available through clinical trials (research studies in people).
Health insurance companies may or may not provide coverage for targeted therapies,
since some may be very expensive.
Ask your oncologist about targeted therapies for your diagnosis; sometimes targeted
therapies can be combined with other cancer therapies.
What is the future of targeted therapies?
The next stage of targeted therapies will be focused on finding which patients will
respond to which targeted therapies. This is called the identification of subpopulations.
The way to identify these subpopulations is through the use of biomarkers and
surrogate endpoints.
Targets: New and Established
The definition of "target" itself is something debated within the pharmaceutical industry.
However, the distinction between a new and established target can be made without a
perfect definition or a full understanding of the term target.
Screening and Design
The process of finding a new drug to use for a chosen target in a particular disease
usually involves high-throughput screening (HTS), in which large libraries of
chemicals are tested for their ability to modify the target.
For example, if the target is a protein kinase, chemicals will be tested for their ability to
inhibit that kinase.
Future research will evaluate the following:
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- Subgroups of people with cancer that are more likely
to benefit from specific targeted therapies.
- Molecular and cellular characteristics that are present
when targeted therapies work and when they do not
work in people.
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