ABSTRACT
Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States, and the rest of the western world, exceeded only by heart diseases. Thirty years ago, 50% of the Americans diagnosed with cancer died due to the disease within 5 years; today’s 5-year survival rate is 65%. The FDA has approved 43 new cancer drugs over the last 10 years, compared with 27 in the previous 10 years. Table 23.1 gives an overview of some of the anticancer agents approved today indicating their primary target/mechanism of action and the indications they are used for. Despite this improvement in anticancer therapy, more and more people are being diagnosed with cancer; the primary reason for this being the prolongation of mean life span as a result of more effective treatments against deadly infections and cardiovascular diseases. The need for effective anticancer treatments is therefore still urgent. In this chapter, we will give an overview of the molecular and cellular alterations associated with the development of cancer, and the challenges to be overcome for the effective treatment of this disease. Finally, we will focus on the development and characterization of some anticancer agents used in today’s praxis.
