Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapy is a type of treatment that goes after the gene or protein that is responsible for a certain kind of cancer to grow.

Monoclonal Antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies are the targeting agents used in this type of treatment.

Bevacizumab (Avastin) is one drug used for this type of treatment. It prevents new blood vessels from forming (angiogenesis) on a tumor, effectively starving the tumor so it cannot reproduce.

Other target medications include cetuximab (Erbitux) and erlotinib (Tarceva), which also target and block a protein on non-small cell lung cancer tumors called the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Taking one of these drugs may reduce the ability of the cancer cells to grow.