Targeted Therapy
Uses drugs to pinpoint and destroy cancerous cells.
What is targeted therapy?
Targeted therapy is a relatively new type of cancer treatment. It is similar to chemotherapy in that it uses certain medicines to attack and stop the spread of cancer.
How does it work?
In targeted therapy, a medicine is designed to pinpoint and attach to small particles in the body that are known or suspected to play a role in cancer formation. These drugs block the process by which normal cells become cancerous cells, preventing the growth or spread of tumors.
Because anticancer drugs are “targeted” directly toward the cancerous cells, this type of therapy is considered to be less harmful to normal cells than some chemotherapy drugs that destroy healthy cells in addition to cancerous cells. Target therapy is often used in combination with other forms of chemotherapy.