What is molecularly targeted therapy?
A molecularly targeted therapy is a medication that blocks or inhibits an important cancer molecular abnormality, thus reducing the cancer’s destructive behavior. Molecular abnormalities are aspects of cells that are not normal. For example, these abnormalities control how cancer cells abnormally grow and divide; aggressively spread and invade; survive and live much longer than normal cells; and make new blood vessels (angiogenesis) required for tumor growth. Blocking abnormal molecules can lead to the death of cancer cells. Molecularly targeted medicines are sometimes called “smart” medicines because of their ability to hone in on tumor cells while sparing healthy cells. The FDA has already approved several promising molecularly targeted therapies for patients with other types of cancer. These medicines are now being evaluated in clinical trials for brain tumor patients. Bevacizumab is one drug in particular that is being extensively evaluated in a number of studies. Because these med
