Targeted cancer therapies are substances that block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with specific mechanisms ("molecular targets") that are involved in the growth, progression, and metastasis of a tumor.

Targeted Therapies are considered as an advanced step in regular cancer treatment regiments like chemotherapy. Targeted treatments target specific proteins that are part of biological pathways responsible for tumor progression and invasive growth. This selected therapeutic approach has gained R&D momentum in the last decade and there are already several FDA approved treatments on the market.

So, which targeted therapies should you be watching out for?

Here is an outline of the different areas within targeted therapy.

Hormone therapies

Some tumors need hormones to grow and metastasize. This form of targeted therapy acts by preventing the body from producing the hormones or they block certain activities of hormones. Hormone therapy has been approved for both breast and prostate cancers and being used in other cancer types as well.

Signal transduction inhibitors

Malignant cancer cells are characterized by their rapid and continuous cell division. This happens because cancer cells have usurped the

signaling pathways for growth. Signal

transduction inhibitors are molecules that

can interfere with this inappropriate

signaling by blocking their signaling

pathway (tyrosine kinases).

Read more here.

PARP inhibitors

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) protein plays a role in cellular growth, regulation and cell repair. When a DNA in a cell is damaged, tumor suppressor gene and PARP work together to repair the DNA to not lead to mutations. If damage is too great, cell will go through cell death. In cancers where the tumor suppressor gene is faulty cancer cells are repaired only by PARP leaving an incomplete repair of DNA and just enough damaged DNA that cells won’t go into a state of cell death and will continue to grow with mutations. still has some damage.
PARP inhibitors act to stop the action of cancer cell repairment so damaged or mutated DNA remains at high levels that trigger cell death. Therefore, PARP inhibitors target those cancers that have mutations in their genes (like BRCA mutation). Some cancers that are treated with PARP inhibtors are Ovarian, Fallopian, peritoneal and breast cancers.

As cancer evolves and diversifies among people, it raises major challenges in detecting a singular select pathway to target. Patients who have been treated with targeted medications very often develop resistance after 9-12 months due to subclones of tumor cells surviving blockades and finding alternative pathways to bypass inhibitions set by targeted medication. These subclones 'escape' treatment hold and continue to grow and metastasize.

It is critical to think beyond singular pathways and to treat with targeted medications using a multiple pathway approach. ReInvent Pharma's FDC medicine effects several pathways and when used 'on top' of targeted therapies can broaden their range of beneficial secondary. Reinvent current research and development efforts within this therapeutic segment are focusing on target proteins within the EGFR. VEGF and PARP families Learn more about our repurposing combination technology that is improving targeted medicine's effectiveness.

PARP Inhibitors