An overview of recent advancements in targeted cancer therapies and their potential clinical impact

Abstract

Recent advances in medicine and drug development have significantly changed how cancer is treated. The success of inhibitors like sotorasib and adagrasib has expanded options for targeting once 'undruggable' oncogenic drivers such as KRAS. The emergence of RET and NTRK inhibitors shows the increasing importance of targeted therapies. Recent developments in immunotherapy include new immune checkpoint inhibitors (LAG-3, TIGIT, and TIM-3), which enhance the efforts to combat cancers that evade immune detection. ADCs such as EMRELIS™, Datroway, and ELAHERE™ offer precise targeting along with potent cytotoxic agents. Protein degradation strategies, using the ubiquitin-proteasome system, provide new ways to remove oncogenic proteins through PROTACs and molecular glues. Epigenetic drugs such as IDH and EZH2 inhibitors seek to correct transcriptional dysregulation in cancer. New tactics to overcome resistance, including EGFR C797S inhibitors and combination therapies, aim to improve treatment durability. Cancer vaccine research is progressing with licensed immunoprophylactic drugs, and AI tools like AlphaFold are speeding up drug discovery by enhancing structural biology predictions. This review covers recent cancer therapeutics advancements, including targeted inhibitors, immunotherapies, resistance strategies, epigenetic interventions, combination therapies, vaccines, and AI applications.