Gefitinib, sold under the brand name Iressa, is a medication used for certain breast, lung and other cancers. Gefitinib is an EGFR inhibitor, like erlotinib, which interrupts signaling through the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in target cells. Therefore, it is only effective in cancers with mutated and overactive EGFR, but resistances to gefitinib can arise through other mutations. It is marketed by AstraZeneca and Teva.
Bevacizumab, sold under the brand name Avastin among others, is a monoclonal antibody medication used to treat a number of types of cancers and a specific eye disease. For cancer, it is given by slow injection into a vein (intravenous) and used for colon cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, glioblastoma, and renal-cell carcinoma. In many of these diseases it is used as a first-line therapy. For age-related macular degeneration it is given by injection into the eye (intravitreal).
Cetuximab, sold under the brand name Erbitux, is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor medication used for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer and head and neck cancer. Cetuximab is a chimeric (mouse/human) monoclonal antibody given by intravenous infusion.
Targeted therapy or molecularly targeted therapy is one of the major modalities of medical treatment (pharmacotherapy) for cancer, others being hormonal therapy and cytotoxic chemotherapy. As a form of molecular medicine, targeted therapy blocks the growth of cancer cells by interfering with specific targeted molecules needed for carcinogenesis and tumor growth, rather than by simply interfering with all rapidly dividing cells. Because most agents for targeted therapy are biopharmaceuticals, the term biologic therapy is sometimes synonymous with targeted therapy when used in the context of cancer therapy. However, the modalities can be combined; antibody-drug conjugates combine biologic and cytotoxic mechanisms into one targeted therapy.
Panitumumab, sold under the brand name Vectibix, is a fully human monoclonal antibody specific to the epidermal growth factor receptor.
KRAS is a gene that provides instructions for making a protein called K-Ras, a part of the RAS/MAPK pathway. The protein relays signals from outside the cell to the cell's nucleus. These signals instruct the cell to grow and divide (proliferate) or to mature and take on specialized functions (differentiate). It is called KRAS because it was first identified as a viral oncogene in the KirstenRAt Sarcoma virus. The oncogene identified was derived from a cellular genome, so KRAS, when found in a cellular genome, is called a proto-oncogene.
Brigatinib, sold under the brand name Alunbrig among others, is a small-molecule targeted cancer therapy being developed by Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Brigatinib acts as both an anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor.
Pembrolizumab, sold under the brand name Keytruda, is a humanized antibody used in cancer immunotherapy that treats melanoma, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, stomach cancer, cervical cancer, and certain types of breast cancer. It is administered by slow intravenous injection.
Ceritinib is a prescription-only drug used for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It was developed by Novartis and received FDA approval for use in April 2014.
Atezolizumab, sold under the brand name Tecentriq among others, is a monoclonal antibody medication used to treat urothelial carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer (SCLC), hepatocellular carcinoma and alveolar soft part sarcoma, but discontinued for use in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). It is a fully humanized, engineered monoclonal antibody of IgG1 isotype against the protein programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1).
Osimertinib, sold under the brand name Tagrisso, is a medication used to treat non-small-cell lung carcinomas with specific mutations. It is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor.
Erdafitinib, sold under the brand name Balversa, is an anti-cancer medication. It is a small molecule inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) used for the treatment of cancer. FGFRs are a subset of tyrosine kinases which are unregulated in some tumors and influence tumor cell differentiation, proliferation, angiogenesis, and cell survival. Astex Pharmaceuticals discovered the drug and licensed it to Janssen Pharmaceuticals for further development.
Ivosidenib, sold under the brand name Tibsovo, is an anti-cancer medication for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and cholangiocarcinoma. It is a small molecule inhibitor of isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1), which is mutated in several forms of cancer. Ivosidenib is an isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 inhibitor that works by decreasing abnormal production of the oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG), leading to differentiation of malignant cells.
Tepotinib, sold under the brand name Tepmetko, is an anti-cancer medication used for the treatment of adults with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Sotorasib, sold under the brand names Lumakras and Lumykras, is an anti-cancer medication used to treat non-small-cell lung cancer. It targets a specific mutation, G12C, in the protein K-Ras encoded by gene KRAS which is responsible for various forms of cancer. Sotorasib is an inhibitor of the RAS GTPase family.
Trastuzumab deruxtecan, sold under the brand name Enhertu, is an antibody-drug conjugate consisting of the humanized monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) covalently linked to the topoisomerase I inhibitor deruxtecan. It is licensed for the treatment of breast cancer or gastric or gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma. Trastuzumab binds to and blocks signaling through epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu) on cancers that rely on it for growth. Additionally, once bound to HER2 receptors, the antibody is internalized by the cell, carrying the bound deruxtecan along with it, where it interferes with the cell's ability to make DNA structural changes and replicate its DNA during cell division, leading to DNA damage when the cell attempts to replicate itself, destroying the cell.
Selpercatinib, sold under the brand name Retevmo among others, is a medication for the treatment of cancers in people whose tumors have an alteration in a specific gene. It is taken by mouth.
Pralsetinib, sold under the brand name Gavreto, is a medication approved for RET mutation-positive medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and RET fusion-positive differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) refractory to radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy. Pralsetinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. It is taken by mouth.
Amivantamab, sold under the brand name Rybrevant, is a bispecific monoclonal antibody used to treat non-small cell lung cancer. Amivantamab is a bispecific epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor-directed and mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET) receptor-directed antibody. It is the first treatment for adults with non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors have specific types of genetic mutations: epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 20 insertion mutations.
Repotrectinib, sold under the brand name Augtyro, is an anti-cancer medication used for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. It is taken by mouth. Repotrectinib is an inhibitor of proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase ROS1 (ROS1) and of the tropomyosin receptor tyrosine kinases (TRKs) TRKA, TRKB, and TRKC.
