A View on Drug Development for Cancer Prevention

Abstract

Despite some notable successes, there are still relatively few agents approved for cancer prevention. Here we review progress thus far in the development of medicines for cancer prevention, and we outline some key concepts that could further enable or accelerate drug development for cancer prevention in the future. These are summarized under six key themes: (i) unmet clinical need, (ii) patient identification, (iii) risk stratification, (iv) pharmacological intervention, (v) clinical trials, and (vi) health care policy. These concepts, if successfully realized, may help to increase the number of medicines available for cancer prevention.

Significance: The huge potential public health benefits of preventing cancer, combined with recent advances in the availability of novel early detection technologies and new treatment modalities, has caused us to revisit the opportunities and challenges associated with developing medicines to prevent cancer. Here we review progress in the field of developing medicines to prevent cancer to date, and we present a series of ideas that might help in the development of more medicines to prevent cancer in the future.