Presenting the year’s most recently approved treatments for cancer, the American Cancer Society recently revealed a brief list of new FDA-endorsed drugs to combat various forms of the disease from its Atlanta hub.
The approved medicines underwent rigorous testing before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued its stamp of approval, ensuring that benefits outweighed risks for each. Prior to next-generation medications, health care practitioners have relied mainly on chemotherapy; targeted therapy — which aims to destroy specific cancer cells while sparing normal cells; and immunotherapy, which draws on the body’s immune system to combat cancer.
Now, the American Cancer Society has listed seven new drugs targeted specifically to individual cancers, with each of the drugs being the newest or first in its respective category for targeting specific cancer types.
The FDA-approved list includes Tecentriq (atezolizumab) to combat bladder cancer; Venclexta (venetoclax) for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL); Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for head and neck cancers; and Opdivo (nivolumab) to address Hodgkin lymphoma.
Additionally, it announced Halaven (eribulin) for liposarcoma, a soft tissue cancer; Xalkori (crizotinib) as the first treatment for certain types of lung cancer; and Lartruvo (olaratumab) to target soft tissue sarcoma.
The American Cancer Society expressed support of the FDA’s decisions, believing that these newest treatment options are capable of making “a significant difference” in the outcome of millions of Americans struggling with the disease.
