AACR 2012: Future is combinations of novel cancer agents
A standing room only audience at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) heard from several distinguished speakers on what the future of cancer drug therapy is likely to look like: combinations of novel cancer agents.
This AACR session was one of the highlights of the meeting and would have merited from being part of the plenary program.
Jeffrey Engelman from MGH persuasively presented on why we need combination therapies to overcome resistance. He noted that:
- Most cancers are not sensitive to currently available single-agent therapies
- Even when sensitive to single-agent therapies, cancers develop resistance, often necessitating combinations