One of the main treatments for cancer is the use of drugs to help fight the disease, and there are many different kinds of medications being used. Most drug treatments include more than one medication, and drug treatment may be used in conjunction with other treatments, such as surgery or radiation. Choosing a specific drug for your treatment can depend on the type of cancer you have, the disease spread, your general health and the response of your tumor.
Targeted Therapies
Targeted therapy drugs are sometimes classified as chemotherapeutic drugs, but unlike many chemotherapy drugs--which attack fast-growing cells, both cancerous and not--these drugs have specific targets (hence their name). These medications seek out and attack only the cancer cells, minimizing damage to healthy cells, according to the American Cancer Society. Examples of these drugs include imatinib (Gleevec), gefitinib (Iressa) and sunitinib (Sutent).
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy drugs use your immune system to attack cancer cells (see References 2). The American Cancer Society describes two ways immunotherapy is used: The medications can stimulate your immune system to work more effectively, or the drugs are man-made parts of the immune system that are then administered. Types of immunotherapy drugs include monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines and non-specific immunotherapy drugs. Drugs that fall into this class include trastuzumab (Herceptin), cetuximab (Erbitux) and interleukin-2 (IL-2).
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells, according to the National Cancer Institute. Chemotherapy can be administered intravenously, orally or as a cream on the skin. General chemotherapy drugs attack rapidly multiplying cells, such as cancer cells, but also attack other fast-growing healthy cells, such as those in your hair, mouth and intestinal tract, causing various side effects. There are many different kinds of chemotherapies, and they vary depending on which kind of cancer you have, the stage and the extent of the disease. Classes of chemotherapy drugs include alkylating drugs, plant alkaloids, antimetabolites, antitumor antibiotics and topoisomerase inhibitors.
