Chemotherapy is one of the main treatment options for cancer. However, chemotherapeutic agents usually suffer from poor pharmaceutical properties that restrict their use. Targeted therapy drugs have been developed to specifi cally target changes in cancer cells that help these cells to grow. Such drugs often work when standard chemotherapeutic drugs do not, they often have less severe side effects and they are most often used for advanced cancers. The objective of this article is to give an overview about the 16 FDA-approved targeted therapy drugs to treat non-small cell lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer. Subtypes of NSCLC include squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma and the less common adenosquamos carcinoma and sarcomatoid carcinoma.
MiniMany factors increase the risk for NSCLC such as smoking, genetic factors, exposure to radon gas, asbestos, second-hand smoke, or other forms of air pollution.Signs or symptoms are usually not observed in the early stages of lung cancer, but many signs of eventually developed NSCLC include persistent cough, coughing up blood, persistent breathlessness, unexplained tiredness and weight loss, and an ache or pain when breathing or coughing.Diagnosis of NSCLC can be achieved with different methods such as chest radiographs and computed tomography (CT) scans, which can be con irmed by biopsy that is usually performed by bronchoscopy or CT-guidance.