Cancer
April 21, 2008
America’s pharmaceutical research companies are testing a record 750 new medicines to help treat cancer, according to a recent report by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
The medicines in the report are being tested in human clinical trials or are awaiting approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Cancer medicines being developed include 113 for lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in the United States; 90 for breast cancer, which is expected to strike more than 180,000 American women this year; 65 for colorectal cancer, which is the third most common cancer in both men and women; and 88 for prostate cancer, which this year is expected to kill 28,000 American men. Additional medicines target brain cancer, kidney cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, skin cancer, and others.
The medicines represent many cutting-edge approaches, including one medicine that targets and kills specific cancer cells, and then activates the patient’s general immune system to destroy any remaining cancer.
Click here to download the full report and find additional information on new medicines in development for cancer.
Click here to read about selected medicines in development for cancer.
Related information on innovation.org:
- A Revolution in Treating Cancer: Read our newsletter about cutting edge cancer treatments.
- A Decade of Innovation: Discover how far we’ve come in the last decade in treating some of the rarest forms of cancer and what else is being done.
- The Story of Gleevec®: Learn how scientists used molecular targeting to develop the first targeted cancer medicine.
- The Story of Mylotarg®: Meet the researchers behind the first approved drug in a new class of anticancer therapies called "antibody-targeted chemotherapy."
- Patient Stories: Read about real patients and see the impact new medicines are having on their lives.
- Charts: View statistics on how new medicines are improving patient health and survival rates.
- Then & Now: Find out how innovative treatments have changed the course of leukemia.
- The Age of Personalized Medicine: Learn how molecular-based approaches to medicine are bringing about a new era in health care, with cancer care leading the way.
