Current best practices and rationalistic perspectives in causation-based prevention, early detection and multidisciplinary treatment of breast and gastric cancer

Gastric & Breast Cancer e-journal
DOI: 10.2122/gbc.2009.0101

Published Ahead of Print on January 10, 2009

EDITORIAL

CANCER : Changes in Drugs Discovery and Clinical Trials Testing Design

Targeted Agents: Miss and Expectations by Changing Conceptual Strategy

Despite an isolated clinical success of trastuzumab and lapatinib in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive disease, most other targeted agents have been proved of modest or no clinical efficacy in various solid cancers [1, 2]. Continuing the research, clinical, and public health strategy on “one agent for all patients” harms

public health and costs, public and private insurances, and community. Only pharmaceutical industry has major financial gains from the clinical routine use of highly expensive targeted “therapy”. Perhaps a few patients may benefit. Nevertheless, the vast majority of patients experience an unnecessary overtreatment with potential adverse effects [1, 2].

Why is it illusion to expect any benefit from generalization, unselected treatment strategy using the currently available targeted drugs? What are the genetic variation-based convincing data that accumulating proves now the need for a revolution in discovery drugs research arena and randomized trials design? Why and how quantitative genetics, personal genomics and systems biology [3- 6] represent the most rational scientific approaches to achieve the major goal of a patient-tailored management of solid cancers?
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Online ISSN : 1109 - 7647
   Print ISSN : 1109 - 7655

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last update: 3 February 2004