27 cancer treatments show promise as science gets precise

World cancerhealthmedicinevaccines 27 cancer treatments show promise as science gets precise Thjxq2c36rhvli4d2bo3htczti Relevant News 27 cancer treatments show promise as science gets precise 22 August 2026 Cyprus weather: mostly clear with highs of 39C inland on Saturday 22 August 2026 A new era in the labour market: Transparency, equality and investment in skills 22 August 2026 Marilena Panayi 22 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber In under 10 months, humanity has mounted what amounts to a mass assault on cancer, according to official data from regulators and other authorities worldwide. The past few months have not produced a single “miracle cancer drug,” but rather an accumulation of approvals and strong clinical evidence. Drawing on official announcements, and with the help of Christos Petrou, Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Nicosia, the main developments have been tracked. That tracking shows that between November 2025 and the end of July 2026, a total of 27 drugs or vaccines have either received final approval or reached advanced clinical trial stages with encouraging results. More than a century ago, Petrou told Phileleftheros, Paul Ehrlich set out his vision of the “magic bullet”: a treatment that would strike its pathological target with precision, without harming healthy tissue. Oncology, he noted, is closer to that vision today than ever before, though he added that no magic bullet can hit its target unless the target itself is first known with precision. He explained that genomic analysis of a patient’s own tumour has become central to modern cancer care, saying: “Genomic analysis of cancer cells from each patient’s tumour is today’s targeting system.” That’s because this analysis allows doctors to establish a tumour’s unique molecular identity, the mutations driving its growth, its protein targets, and its resistance mechanisms, he added. That, in turn, makes it possible to select the right targeted drug, bispecific antibody, antibody-drug conjugate or other specialised therapy for that specific patient. In simple terms, he explained, it is no longer enough to know only which organ the cancer appeared in. Doctors need to know each tumour’s individual genomic and molecular profile. In that sense, he said, this technique is what turns Ehrlich’s historic vision from theory into genuinely personalised oncology. The new generation of targeted therapies Cancer research is increasingly turning towards therapies that do not attack all cells indiscriminately, but instead seek out each tumour’s particular weaknesses. With the help of genomic profiling, doctors can identify the mutations and proteins that help cancer cells grow, then select drugs designed to strike those exact targets. One of the most significant developments concerns pancreatic cancer, which remains especially difficult to treat. In the RASolute 302 study, the pill daraxonrasib was tested in 500 patients with metastatic disease who had already undergone treatment. Those given the new drug lived for an average of 13.2 months, compared with 6.7 months on standard chemotherapy. The drug nearly doubled survival. It also cut the risk of death by 60 per cent, showing that a target long considered unreachable can now be treated with medication. Results for some lung cancers are also encouraging. The LIBRETTO-432 study involved patients whose tumours carried a specific genetic alteration known as RET. Two years after surgery, 91.5 per cent of those who received selpercatinib had shown no relapse or other serious event, compared with 61.1 per cent in the placebo group. In localised, high-risk prostate cancer, adding apalutamide to treatment before and after surgery cut the risk of metastasis or death by 20 per cent. Another category gaining ground is bispecific antibodies, recently the focus of the scientific journal Nature. These are drugs that recognise two different targets at once, and they work in one of two ways. Some function as a “bridge,” binding a cancer cell on one side and a T-lymphocyte, a defence cell, on the other, bringing them into direct contact. Others simultaneously block two pathways a tumour uses to grow and evade the immune system. Approved in China for certain forms of lung cancer, ivonescimab is one example. In the HARMONi-6 study, patients who received it alongside chemotherapy lived for a median of 27.9 months, compared with 23.7 months for those on a combination of tislelizumab and chemotherapy. Meanwhile, five trials of pumitamig began in 2026, covering lung, breast, colon and stomach cancers. It acts on two targets simultaneously but remains an experimental therapy. A different technology combines an antibody with a potent anticancer drug, with the antibody acting as a “vehicle” that recognises the tumour and delivers the drug as precisely as possible to cancer cells. Datroway and Enhertu belong to this category and are used in specific forms of breast cancer. Working differently again, vepdegestrant harnesses the cell’s natural “recycling” mechanism, forcing it to destroy a protein that helps certain breast cancers grow. The genetic alteration ROS1 in lung cancer, meanwhile, is the target for zidesamtinib. And Pluvicto follows another path entirely: it locates prostate cancer cells through the PSMA protein and delivers radiation directly to them. All these developments share a common thread: treatment is increasingly chosen based on a tumour’s biological and genetic characteristics, not just the organ in which it appeared. That does not mean every new drug suits every patient, or that every encouraging result amounts to a cure. But it does show oncology moving towards more precise, more personalised treatment. mRNA: significant promise, no approved therapy mRNA cancer vaccines are designed to teach the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells. In some cases, they are produced individually for each patient, based on their tumour’s specific mutations. They are not vaccines that prevent cancer, but experimental therapies aimed at preventing its return or limiting its progression. The most advanced results come from the KEYNOTE-942 study, which involved 157 patients who had undergone surgery for high-risk melanoma. Combining the personalised mRNA vaccine V940 with the immunotherapy pembrolizumab was associated, over five years, with a 49 per cent reduction in the risk of relapse or death. It was also associated with a 59 per cent reduction in the risk of distant metastasis or death, compared with immunotherapy alone. The findings are considered positive, though they still need to be confirmed in larger studies. Researchers are also developing other mRNA vaccines for different cancer types. BNT113 is being tested in head and neck cancers. Despite the optimism generated by early results, no therapeutic mRNA cancer vaccine has yet been established as an approved treatment. Before entering everyday medical practice, they must be shown, in larger numbers of patients, to be safe, to maintain their benefit over the long term, and to be capable of being produced quickly and at an affordable cost. Editor’s note: Many of the drugs described here are currently approved only in the United States or China, or remain in clinical trials. Before they can be marketed in Cyprus and the rest of the European Union, they must first be evaluated by the European Medicines Agency and receive a marketing authorisation from the European Commission. 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