The cancer drug discovery system is broken, global summit hears

The global system for discovering new cancer drugs is ‘broken’, and failing to turn dramatic scientific advances into enough innovative, game-changing medicines, a world-leading UK expert has warned.

Professor Paul Workman (pictured), interim chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, told the World Oncology Forum, in Switzerland, that big leaps forward in cancer treatment were now possible, but only with major changes to the model for discovering and developing drugs. Professor Workman said that concerted action was needed by governments, pharmaceutical companies, regulators and academic institutions to fix a system that was failing to take the risks needed to deliver exciting new treatments.

He said drugs were only available for 5% of the 500 known cancer drug targets, meaning that far more are needed to deliver the combination treatments that are essential to overcome the major problem of cancer evolution and drug resistance.