Sök artiklar i SveMed+

Tidskrift

Sammanfattning

A large number of cancer drugs have been approved during the last decade, the majority belonging to the group of targeted drugs. New cancer drugs can since 2004 only obtain market approval by a centralized European regulatory procedure and decisions are binding for all member states within the European Union. The targets for these drugs are frequently expressed both in normal/and cancer cells. The new generation of cancer drug will therefore not be deprived from side-effects, on the contrary, there are data indicating that the degree of some side effects tend to correlate with the anti-tumour effects. Targeted drugs have relatively frequently been demonstrated to have small/moderate effects when used for therapy of metastatic disease, however, important exceptions exist. Some of the drugs have shown clearly positive effects when used in the adjuvant setting, for therapy of micro-metastatic disease. It is important when developing these drugs to identify relevant subgroups of patients who may have large benefit from therapy. In order to be able to identify subgroups, analysis of tumour biological characteristics in biopsies are likely required, together with detailed knowledge of differences in metabolism, potentially related to difference in single nucleotide polymorphisms. These strategies are aiming at tailored therapy strategies which should be a core part of modern cancer drug development.

MeSH