Emerging concepts in drug discovery for cancer therapy.

Abstract

These are exciting times to be involved in biomedical research. The transition from a scientific hypothesis to a testable therapy is now faster than ever, and new technologies that facilitate drug development are constantly emerging. The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines provides a clear example of the current pace of drug discovery and its clinical implementation. Importantly, the wide availability of technologies that speed up drug development has also reached oncology, and investigators can now consider several independent strategies when looking to develop a new therapy. This thematic issue provides an overview of recent advances in cancer drug discovery, in areas such as fragment-based drug development, targeting the DNA damage response or the MYC oncogene, senolytic therapies and computational tools that facilitate drug discovery and the selection of treatments in personalized medicine. We are confident that reading these reviews will help those interested in the development of cancer therapies get a broader and updated view of available opportunities and challenges.