A new paradigm for cancer therapeutics development

The number of cancer patients has increased due to longer life spans and treatment has become a universal problem. Since molecular-targeted therapies were introduced as a new developmental strategy, certain targets have been examined hundreds of times, with developers overlapping their research efforts. We need to focus our energy and resources on novel drug candidate identification and optimization, in order to enhance the entry of early-stage drug candidates into the therapeutics pipeline. This presents a major opportunity for Korea to jump the decades-old development gap between our programs and those that are more advanced in other countries. Although this country does not have a specific center for validation and development of cancer therapeutics, we do have cutting-edge scientists performing research in many institutions. In this paper, I will review cancer drug development in Korea and suggest future directions, while urging colleagues to utilize their networking expertise so we can move toward a new paradigm of novel therapeutics development. An example of such efforts has begun with the Drug Development Consortium, which was described in the KSBMB chapter. This consortium was launched in 2010 by biochemists, chemists, cell and molecular biologists and pharmacologists. It is clear that effective cancer therapeutics will be developed more efficiently when we all strive for the same goal. [BMB reports 2010; 43(6): 383-388]