Treatments & tests

A drink taken before brain surgery that makes high-grade glioma glow under blue light, letting surgeons remove more tumour safely.

Abemaciclib was the first CDK4/6 inhibitor approved after surgery for high-risk hormone-positive breast cancer.

Abiraterone is a pill that shuts down testosterone production everywhere, including inside the tumour. Discovered at the Institute of Cancer Research, now generic and used from the first metastatic diagnosis.

Acalabrutinib is a cleaner BTK blocker with fewer heart and bleeding problems than ibrutinib. In February 2026 it became half of the first all-oral, fixed-duration CLL regimen.

Adagrasib was the second KRAS G12C inhibitor, with a long half-life and brain penetration, and is approved in lung and colorectal cancer.

Adebrelimab is Hengrui's PD-L1 antibody, approved in China for first-line extensive-stage small cell lung cancer on the CAPSTONE-1 trial.

Afamitresgene autoleucel was the first engineered T-cell receptor therapy approved for a solid tumour, synovial sarcoma.

Afatinib (Gilotrif) is a second-generation pill that binds EGFR, HER2 and HER4 irreversibly, approved in 2013 for EGFR-mutant lung cancer. Its lasting value is activity against the uncommon EGFR mutations G719X, L861Q and S768I, approved in 2018, because osimertinib has displaced it for common mutations and its wild-type EGFR binding causes more rash and diarrhoea.

High-dose interleukin-2 was the first immunotherapy to cure a small fraction of patients with metastatic melanoma and kidney cancer, at the cost of ICU-level toxicity; today it mainly supports TIL therapy.

Alectinib is a well-tolerated ALK pill, standard first line for years and, since 2024, the first targeted therapy given after surgery for ALK-positive lung cancer.

Alemtuzumab (Campath) is an antibody that wipes out lymphocytes carrying the CD52 marker. It is approved for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and is supplied in the US through a restricted distribution programme.

Alpelisib was the first PI3K drug for PIK3CA-mutant breast cancer (2019). It is effective, but high blood sugar and rash limited its use, and newer drugs are displacing it.

Amifostine (Ethyol) is an infusion given just before chemotherapy or radiotherapy to shield the kidneys from cisplatin and the salivary glands from radiation, reducing dry mouth after head and neck treatment.

Aminolevulinic acid is painted on sun-damaged skin and then activated with a lamp, destroying actinic keratoses before they can become skin cancer; in Europe the gel is also approved for superficial basal cell carcinoma.

A two-armed antibody that blocks EGFR and its escape partner MET, now first-line for EGFR-mutant lung cancer with lazertinib.

Anagrelide (Agrylin) is a capsule that lowers dangerously high platelet counts in essential thrombocythaemia and other myeloproliferative neoplasms, reducing the risk of clots and bleeding.

Anlotinib is one of the most used cancer pills in China, first approved for lung cancer after other treatments have failed and then for several rarer tumours.

An AR blocker approved for prostate cancer that has spread and for high-risk disease before it shows on scans.

Aprepitant (Emend) was the first of a new class of anti-sickness drugs. Taken with a 5-HT3 blocker and dexamethasone, it prevents the delayed nausea and vomiting that follow strongly emetogenic chemotherapy such as cisplatin.

An ancient poison turned cure: with retinoic acid it cures more than 95% of acute promyelocytic leukaemia without conventional chemotherapy.

An FDA-cleared AI test (May 2026) that reads breast cancer slides to estimate recurrence risk in early hormone-positive disease.

The first AI tool cleared by the FDA to predict both prognosis and treatment benefit from a routine biopsy slide, in prostate cancer.

Asciminib is a BCR::ABL1 blocker that binds a different pocket from every other TKI, approved for all newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2024 and now being tested in Ph-positive ALL.

An enzyme that starves leukaemia cells of an amino acid they cannot make; a mainstay of childhood ALL therapy for 50 years, with new versions solving allergy and supply problems.

A PD-L1 blocker used in lung, liver, and bladder cancer. In 2026 it became the first drug approved based on a blood test showing leftover cancer after bladder surgery.

Aumolertinib is Hansoh's third-generation lung cancer pill, the first China-developed drug of its class, approved for first-line EGFR-mutant lung cancer on the AENEAS trial.

Avapritinib is the first drug for GIST driven by the PDGFRA D842V mutation, which resists every other kinase inhibitor; it is also approved for systemic mastocytosis.

Avelumab is a PD-L1 blocker given as maintenance after chemotherapy for advanced bladder cancer, which lengthened survival by about seven months.

Avutometinib plus defactinib is the first treatment approved specifically for low-grade serous ovarian cancer, a slow-growing type driven by the RAS pathway.

A CD19 CAR-T that cures about 40% of patients with large B-cell lymphoma who had failed everything, and beat transplant in second line.

Axitinib is a selective VEGF-receptor pill, now given mainly with pembrolizumab or avelumab as first-line kidney cancer treatment.

A gentle chemotherapy that switches silenced genes back on. With venetoclax it became the standard for older people with AML who cannot take intensive treatment.

A myeloma ADC that was withdrawn in 2022 then came back in 2025 after strong trials in earlier lines.

Belinostat is an HDAC inhibitor for relapsed peripheral T-cell lymphoma; about a quarter of patients respond, and it can be used in patients with low platelets.

Belumosudil is a pill for chronic graft-versus-host disease, the long-term immune complication of donor stem-cell transplants used to cure blood cancers.

Belzutifan is the first HIF-2α inhibitor, born from Nobel-winning biology, and is now approved after kidney cancer surgery with pembrolizumab.

An East German chemotherapy rediscovered in the 2000s that became the backbone partner for rituximab in follicular, mantle cell and Waldenström lymphomas.

Bevacizumab is a humanised antibody that soaks up VEGF-A, the signal tumours use to grow new blood vessels. Approved in 2004, it partners chemotherapy in colorectal, ovarian, cervical, lung, kidney and liver cancer and glioblastoma, and adds to trifluridine/tipiracil in late-line bowel cancer; hypertension, protein in the urine and bleeding are its characteristic side effects.

A blood-vessel-blocking antibody that shrinks glioblastoma on scans and reduces swelling, but has never been shown to help patients live longer.

Bexarotene (Targretin) is a vitamin A-like capsule and gel for the skin disease of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma when other treatments have stopped working.

The old antiandrogen pill used to block the testosterone flare from GnRH agonists and in combined androgen blockade; superseded by enzalutamide-class drugs.

Binimetinib is the MEK inhibitor partnered with encorafenib; blocking the next step in the same relay stops the tumour rerouting around the BRAF block.

Bleomycin is the 'B' in BEP for testicular cancer and ABVD for Hodgkin lymphoma; its unique danger is scarring of the lungs, so lung function is monitored and it is often dropped when safe.

Blinatumomab was the first T-cell engager (2014), and is now given to children and adults with leukaemia even when in remission, because it improves survival.

Bortezomib was the first proteasome inhibitor: it jams the cell's protein-recycling machine, which antibody-factory plasma cells cannot tolerate.

Bosutinib is a CML pill with less cardiovascular and pleural toxicity than its rivals; its main side effect is diarrhoea.

The inherited BRCA test that decides who can have PARP inhibitor pills for ovarian, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer.

The ADC that made the modern field credible (2011), for Hodgkin lymphoma and CD30+ lymphomas.

Brexucabtagene autoleucel is the CAR-T therapy for mantle cell lymphoma and adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, giving long remissions after BTK inhibitors fail.

Brigatinib is an ALK pill with strong brain activity, approved first after crizotinib and then first line after beating it in ALTA-1L.

Busulfan is one of the oldest cancer drugs. As a tablet it controlled chronic myeloid leukaemia before imatinib; as an infusion it is used to clear the bone marrow before a stem cell transplant.

A second taxane that works after docetaxel and beat a second hormone pill head-to-head (CARD).

A pill that blocks both blood-vessel growth and the MET escape pathway, used in kidney, liver, thyroid and, since 2025, neuroendocrine cancers.

A Chinese two-armed antibody that blocks PD-1 and CTLA-4 together, approved in China for cervical cancer and extending survival even in PD-L1-negative tumours.

Camizestrant is an oral oestrogen-receptor degrader approved in September 2026 for a new kind of decision: switching treatment when a blood test shows resistance developing, before the cancer visibly grows.

Camrelizumab is Jiangsu Hengrui's humanised PD-1 antibody, approved in China for oesophageal, liver and lung cancer but not in the US, where its liver cancer combination with rivoceranib drew complete response letters in 2024 and 2025 over manufacturing and inspection issues. Its signature side effect is reactive cutaneous capillary endothelial proliferation, a skin reaction seen in most patients.

A Chinese immunotherapy-plus-anti-angiogenic pill combination that clearly beat sorafenib in liver cancer, yet remains unapproved in the US after three manufacturing-related rejections.

Capecitabine (Xeloda) is a tablet form of the chemotherapy fluorouracil. It is a backbone of treatment for bowel cancer and a standard option in advanced breast cancer.

Capivasertib (Truqap) is the first AKT inhibitor, for breast cancer with PI3K-pathway mutations and, since 2026, for prostate cancer with PTEN loss.

Capmatinib and tepotinib are two pills for the roughly 3% of lung cancers with a MET exon 14 skipping mutation.

Carboplatin is a platinum chemotherapy that crosslinks DNA; it is part of the standard pre-surgery regimen for triple-negative breast cancer.

Carfilzomib is a second-generation proteasome inhibitor with less nerve damage but more heart and blood-pressure effects.

Carmustine is a chemotherapy that reaches the brain. It is given by infusion for brain tumours, lymphoma and myeloma, and as a slow-release wafer left in the cavity after a brain tumour is removed.

Catumaxomab (Korjuny) is an antibody infused into the abdominal cavity to control malignant ascites, the build-up of fluid caused by cancers such as ovarian and stomach cancer, in people who have run out of other treatments.

A PD-1 blocker that is the standard for advanced skin squamous cell carcinoma, and in 2025 became the first adjuvant immunotherapy for it.

Ceritinib is a second-generation ALK pill for lung cancer, effective after crizotinib but with gastrointestinal toxicity that limited uptake.

India's first home-made HPV vaccine, protecting against the two virus types that cause most cervical cancers and the two that cause genital warts, at a price meant for a national programme.

Cetuximab is a chimeric antibody that blocks the EGFR growth receptor. It is used with FOLFIRI or FOLFOX in RAS wild-type, left-sided bowel cancer, with encorafenib in BRAF V600E disease, with KRAS G12C inhibitors, and with radiation or chemotherapy in head and neck cancer; RAS-mutant tumours gain nothing and may be harmed, so RAS testing comes first.

Cetuximab sarotalocan is an EGFR antibody carrying a light-activated dye: after infusion, a red laser is shone on the tumour and the cells burst. It has been approved in Japan since 2020.

Chlorambucil (Leukeran) is a gentle oral chemotherapy tablet used for decades in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and low-grade lymphomas, mainly in older patients.

Ciltacabtagene autoleucel is a one-time BCMA CAR-T for myeloma that, in CARTITUDE-4, cut the risk of death by about 45% compared with standard regimens.

Cisplatin is the original platinum chemotherapy, discovered by accident in 1965; it cures testicular cancer and makes radiation work better in cervical and head and neck cancer.

A one-week infusion that puts most people with hairy cell leukaemia into remission for years; also used in multiple sclerosis in tablet form.

Clofarabine (Clolar) is an infusion for children and young adults whose acute lymphoblastic leukaemia has come back after at least two other treatments.

A DNA test that counts leftover leukaemia, myeloma or lymphoma cells down to one in a million, used to decide whether treatment has really worked.

The lung cancer gene test that became the first blood-based companion diagnostic the FDA ever approved.

Cobimetinib is the MEK partner for vemurafenib, and the first drug approved for histiocytic neoplasms.

A home stool test done every three years that looks for cancer DNA and hidden blood; a positive result means you need a colonoscopy.

The updated Cologuard, approved in 2024, which keeps the high cancer detection rate while causing fewer false alarms.

Cosibelimab is a PD-L1 antibody approved in December 2024 for advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, offering a third immunotherapy choice.

The two old chemotherapy drugs packed together into tiny fat bubbles at a fixed ratio, which doubled five-year survival in older adults with high-risk AML.

Crizotinib was the first ALK inhibitor, approved four years after ALK fusions were found in lung cancer; it was also the first drug for ROS1 lung cancer and for ALK-positive lymphoma and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour in children.

Cyclophosphamide is an alkylating chemotherapy that damages DNA in dividing cells. It is part of CHOP for lymphoma, AC for breast cancer and VAC for childhood sarcomas, clears lymphocytes before CAR-T and prevents graft-versus-host disease after transplant; bladder bleeding, infertility and secondary leukaemia are its harms.

Cytarabine is the core chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukaemia, given with an anthracycline as the classic 7+3 induction and at high doses for consolidation; it is also injected into the spinal fluid to treat or prevent leukaemia in the brain.

Dabrafenib (Tafinlar) is a capsule that switches off the faulty BRAF protein driving some melanomas, lung, thyroid and other cancers. It is almost always paired with trametinib.

Dabrafenib plus trametinib is the BRAF-plus-MEK pill combination, approved for BRAF V600E lung cancer and, since 2022, for any solid tumour with that mutation.

Dacarbazine is an older chemotherapy infusion. It was the standard treatment for advanced melanoma for decades and is the D in the ABVD regimen that cures most Hodgkin lymphoma.

A second-generation EGFR pill that beat gefitinib on survival in EGFR-mutant lung cancer but was quickly overshadowed by osimertinib.

The first antibiotic used as an anticancer drug (1954) and still the core of chemotherapy for Wilms tumour, rhabdomyosarcoma and gestational trophoblastic disease.

Dalpiciclib is Hengrui's CDK4/6 inhibitor, the first China-developed drug of the class, approved for hormone-driven advanced breast cancer on the DAWNA trials.

The CD38 antibody that turned triplets into quadruplets: adding it to standard induction roughly halves the risk of myeloma progressing.

The first drug that blocks all active RAS variants, approved by the FDA in August 2026 for metastatic pancreatic cancer, where KRAS drives 90% of tumours.

Darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp) is a longer-acting version of erythropoietin given every one to three weeks to treat anaemia caused by chemotherapy, reducing transfusions but with the same warnings about clots and tumour growth as epoetin.

Darolutamide is an AR blocker that barely enters the brain, so it causes fewer falls and cognitive side effects; it is approved with and without chemotherapy.

Dasatinib is a second-generation BCR::ABL1 pill that, combined with the immunotherapy blinatumomab, can put Ph-positive ALL into deep remission with no chemotherapy at all.

Datopotamab deruxtecan (Datroway) is the second TROP2 ADC and shares Enhertu's payload. In 2026 it became a first-line option for triple-negative breast cancer patients who cannot receive immunotherapy.

Daunorubicin is the anthracycline most often combined with cytarabine to bring acute myeloid leukaemia into remission; it is also part of induction for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Decitabine (Dacogen) is an infusion that loosens the chemical silencing of genes in myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukaemia, helping the bone marrow work again. An oral version combined with cedazuridine has its own record.

Oral decitabine-cedazuridine is a pill version of the hypomethylating chemotherapy that, since May 2026, lets older AML patients take their whole venetoclax regimen at home.

Defibrotide (Defitelio) is the only approved treatment for hepatic veno-occlusive disease, a life-threatening liver complication of high-dose chemotherapy before stem cell transplant, in patients whose kidneys or lungs are also failing.

An injectable hormone blocker for prostate cancer that lowers testosterone within days without the initial surge caused by agonists.

Denileukin diftitox (Lymphir) is an infusion that uses the interleukin-2 signal as a homing device to deliver a bacterial toxin into cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cells. It was withdrawn in 2014 and returned in an improved form in 2024.

Denosumab is an injection under the skin that blocks the signal driving bone breakdown. As Xgeva it prevents fractures and other bone complications in people whose cancer has spread to bone or who have myeloma; as Prolia it treats osteoporosis, including bone loss caused by hormone therapy for breast and prostate cancer.

Dexamethasone is a long-acting glucocorticoid steroid that kills lymphoid cancer cells directly, which is why it sits in nearly every myeloma regimen and in childhood leukaemia and lymphoma protocols. It is also the standard drug for preventing chemotherapy sickness and for brain swelling and spinal cord compression; high blood sugar, insomnia, muscle wasting and infection follow prolonged use.

Dexrazoxane protects the heart from the cumulative damage of doxorubicin in women with metastatic breast cancer who need to keep receiving it, and, as Totect, limits tissue destruction when an anthracycline leaks out of a vein.

The antibody that raised cure rates in high-risk childhood neuroblastoma by about 20 points when given after transplant with immune boosters and retinoid.

Disitamab vedotin is a Chinese HER2 ADC approved for gastric and bladder cancer, now in global trials with Pfizer.

The first chemotherapy to extend life in prostate cancer (2004), now part of triplet therapy at first metastatic diagnosis.

Donafenib is a Chinese redesign of sorafenib that lived longer than the original in a head-to-head liver cancer trial and is approved in China as a first-line option.

Dordaviprone is the first drug ever approved for a lethal childhood and young-adult brain tumour, diffuse midline glioma with the H3 K27M mutation (August 2025).

Zemcelpro is a laboratory-expanded umbilical cord blood transplant for adults with blood cancers who need a donor stem cell transplant but have no suitable matched donor; expanding the cells lets a single small cord blood unit be enough.

Dostarlimab is a PD-1 blocker famous for making rectal cancer disappear without surgery in every patient with a mismatch-repair-deficient tumour.

The red chemotherapy drug from a soil bacterium that is still the backbone of treatment for sarcoma, lymphoma and breast cancer, limited by cumulative heart damage.

A PD-L1 blocker that became standard after chemoradiation for stage III lung cancer, and now in bladder, biliary, and gastric cancers.

A dual PI3K inhibitor for relapsed CLL whose survival data raised FDA concern; use is now limited to late lines.

Efbemalenograstim alfa (Ryzneuta) is a once-per-cycle white cell booster, an alternative to pegfilgrastim, that reduces the risk of febrile infections after chemotherapy.

Eflornithine (DFMO) is an old sleeping-sickness drug repurposed as the first oral maintenance therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma, approved in December 2023 to reduce relapse after immunotherapy.

Elacestrant was the first oral oestrogen-receptor degrader (2023), for ESR1-mutant breast cancer detected by blood test.

An immune-stimulating antibody for myeloma that works only in combination, adding benefit to lenalidomide or pomalidomide.

Elranatamab is Pfizer's BCMA bispecific, given under the skin every week then every two weeks, for myeloma after four prior lines.

Enasidenib is the IDH2 counterpart of ivosidenib, approved in the US for relapsed disease but never approved in Europe after it failed to extend survival in a confirmatory trial.

Encorafenib is a BRAF inhibitor that, with cetuximab and chemotherapy, became first-line standard for BRAF-mutant colorectal cancer in 2026.

Enfortumab vedotin is an ADC against Nectin-4 that, combined with pembrolizumab, nearly doubled survival in advanced bladder cancer.

A Chinese-developed ALK pill approved in the US in December 2024 for first-line ALK-positive lung cancer.

Entrectinib (Rozlytrek) is a pill for NTRK-fusion cancers and ROS1 lung cancer that reaches brain metastases.

Envafolimab is the first PD-L1 antibody given as a quick injection under the skin rather than an infusion, approved in China for advanced tumours with mismatch-repair deficiency.

Enzalutamide is a second-generation androgen-receptor blocker that stops the receptor binding testosterone, entering the nucleus and switching on genes. It is approved at every stage of advanced prostate cancer, from rising PSA after surgery to castration-resistant disease, and fatigue, falls and memory problems are its main drawbacks.

Epcoritamab is an under-the-skin injection that pulls T cells onto lymphoma cells; it is approved for relapsed large B-cell and follicular lymphoma, and moving toward first line.

Epirubicin (Ellence) is a close relative of doxorubicin used mainly after breast cancer surgery when lymph nodes are involved, and in stomach cancer regimens; it is a little kinder to the heart.

Epoetin alfa is a manufactured version of the kidney hormone that tells the bone marrow to make red blood cells. In cancer it treats anaemia caused by chemotherapy and reduces the need for transfusions, but it is used cautiously because it can shorten survival and cause clots.

Equecabtagene autoleucel is a BCMA CAR-T from IASO Bio and Innovent, approved in China in June 2023 for multiple myeloma that has returned after at least three lines of treatment. In the FUMANBA-1 trial about 96% of infused patients responded, most with deep minimal-residual-disease-negative remissions and few severe cytokine release reactions; it competes with cilta-cel and zevor-cel in China.

The first targeted pill for bladder cancer, for the roughly 20% of tumours with FGFR3 alterations, used after immunotherapy.

A sea-sponge-derived chemotherapy that extended survival in heavily pretreated breast cancer and in liposarcoma, where almost nothing else had.

Erlotinib was one of the first EGFR pills for lung cancer; it was approved before anyone knew EGFR mutations predicted who would respond, then redefined by them.

Etoposide is a chemotherapy from the mayapple plant, essential to curing testicular cancer (BEP), treating small-cell lung cancer, lymphomas, childhood sarcomas and leukaemias, and used in transplant conditioning.

An mTOR-blocking pill that doubled progression-free time with exemestane in 2012 and is now paired with the oral SERD giredestrant.

Exemestane is a steroidal aromatase inhibitor, the partner of everolimus and the agent tested with ovarian suppression in young women.

A second JAK inhibitor for myelofibrosis that works after ruxolitinib fails; it carries a boxed warning for a rare brain toxicity (Wernicke encephalopathy) so thiamine is checked.

Filgrastim (Neupogen and its biosimilars) is a daily injection that speeds the recovery of infection-fighting white cells after chemotherapy, lets doctors give chemotherapy on schedule and mobilises stem cells for transplant.

Flotufolastat is a third PSMA PET tracer, with a radiohybrid chemistry designed to be reused for therapy.

Fluciclovine F-18 was the first PET tracer approved for finding recurrent prostate cancer after treatment (2016), and has been largely superseded since 2020 by PSMA PET.

Fludarabine is a chemotherapy infusion for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. It anchored the FCR regimen that was the first to give long remissions, and today it is used above all to prepare patients for CAR-T cells and transplants.

The radioactive sugar used in almost every cancer PET scan, approved in the 1990s and made fresh each day by regional cyclotrons.

A PET scan that shows which breast cancer deposits still have oestrogen receptors, helping decide whether hormone therapy will work when biopsy is impractical.

The 1957 chemotherapy that remains the backbone of treatment for bowel, stomach, pancreatic, anal, head and neck and breast cancers, and as a cream for skin precancers.

Flutamide was the first tablet to block testosterone at the prostate cancer cell. It is taken with an injection that stops testosterone production, but newer drugs have largely replaced it.

The FDA-approved tissue (324 genes) and blood genomic tests that serve as companion diagnostics for dozens of drugs.

A Chinese-discovered pill that blocks the blood-vessel receptors, approved in 2023 for bowel cancer after all standard treatments.

Fulvestrant is a monthly intramuscular injection that degrades the oestrogen receptor rather than blocking it, the endocrine backbone paired with CDK4/6, PI3K and AKT inhibitors once aromatase inhibitors fail. Slow uptake and incomplete receptor degradation drove the search for oral degraders.

Fulzerasib was the first KRAS G12C-blocking pill approved in China, for lung cancers carrying that mutation after earlier treatment.

Furmonertinib is a Chinese lung cancer pill of the same class as osimertinib, which more than doubled the time before cancer grew compared with gefitinib in the FURLONG trial.

Futibatinib is a covalent FGFR inhibitor for FGFR2-fusion bile duct cancer, with the highest response rate of the first-generation drugs.

The PET scan for neuroendocrine tumours that finds far more disease than older scans and confirms eligibility for lutetium radioligand therapy (the theranostic pair).

Gallium-68 PSMA-11 was the first PSMA PET tracer approved in the US (2020), and is made on site from a generator or cyclotron.

Garsorasib is InventisBio's KRAS G12C-blocking pill, approved in China in 2024 for previously treated lung cancer with that mutation.

An intravenous drug that blocks the whole PI3K/mTOR pathway, approved in July 2026 for hormone-positive breast cancer.

The lung-cancer pill whose dramatic responses in a few patients led to the discovery of EGFR mutations in 2004.

A versatile chemotherapy used in pancreatic, bladder, lung, ovarian, breast and biliary cancers, in nasopharyngeal cancer, and as a bladder instillation.

TAR-200 is a small pretzel-shaped device placed in the bladder that releases gemcitabine for three weeks at a time. It was approved in 2025 for early bladder cancer that no longer responds to BCG.

Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) is an anti-CD33 antibody linked to the DNA-cutting payload calicheamicin, the first ADC approved, in 2000 for relapsed acute myeloid leukaemia. An unstable linker and no benefit in a confirmatory trial led to withdrawal in 2010; it returned in 2017 at a lower fractionated dose, with liver toxicity, including veno-occlusive disease, its defining risk.

A single pill that beats salvage chemotherapy for relapsed FLT3-mutated AML, and the backbone of the triplets now being tested in frontline disease.

Glasdegib is a hedgehog-pathway pill that, with low-dose chemotherapy, extends survival in older AML patients who cannot have intensive treatment; it has largely been displaced by venetoclax combinations.

Glofitamab is a fixed-duration bispecific for large B-cell lymphoma, with OS benefit when combined with chemotherapy.

Glucarpidase (Voraxaze) is a single emergency injection that chops up methotrexate in the blood when a patient's kidneys have failed to clear a high dose, preventing potentially fatal toxicity.

Monthly or 3-monthly injections that switch off the ovaries, letting premenopausal women use aromatase inhibitors and lowering recurrence in higher-risk cases.

Granisetron is an anti-sickness medicine for chemotherapy given as a tablet, an injection, a week-long skin patch (Sancuso) or a slow-release injection that lasts several days (Sustol).

A blood test that reads a tumour's mutations without a tissue biopsy and is the FDA-approved gateway to several targeted drugs.

The tests that grade a breast or stomach cancer's HER2 level, from the original trastuzumab test in 1998 to the new 'HER2-low' and 'ultralow' cut-offs.

Ceplene is a twice-daily injection of histamine given alongside low-dose interleukin-2 as maintenance treatment for adults with acute myeloid leukaemia in first remission, to help immune cells prevent relapse. It is authorised in Europe only.

Cervarix is a vaccine against HPV types 16 and 18, the two types that cause most cervical cancers, authorised in the EU in 2007 and the US in 2009 after the 18,000-woman PATRICIA trial showed near-complete protection against type-specific precancer. GSK withdrew it from the US in 2016, but it remains WHO-prequalified and used in national programmes, including single-dose schedules.

Gardasil was the first HPV vaccine, licensed in 2006 to prevent cervical and other genital cancers and genital warts. It has been replaced in most countries by the nine-type version, Gardasil 9.

Hydroxyurea is a cheap, decades-old pill that lowers high blood counts in polycythaemia vera and essential thrombocythaemia and is also the main drug for sickle cell disease.

Ibandronic acid (Bondronat) is a bisphosphonate available in Europe as a monthly infusion or daily tablet to prevent fractures and other bone complications in women with breast cancer that has spread to bone, and to treat cancer-related high calcium.

Iberdomide is a far more potent successor to lenalidomide, now in phase 3 as post-transplant maintenance and in relapsed disease.

Zevalin is an antibody carrying a radioactive isotope that seeks out CD20 on lymphoma cells. It treats follicular lymphoma that has relapsed and is given as a one-off consolidation after chemotherapy.

The pill that ended chemotherapy for most CLL. It blocks the survival signal B cells depend on, and it was the first drug to beat chemoimmunotherapy in nearly every CLL setting.

Icotinib, approved in 2011, was the first cancer drug invented and developed in China, and it showed that a domestic lung cancer pill could match a Western one head to head.

Idarubicin is an anthracycline chemotherapy approved in 1990 for adult acute myeloid leukaemia, given with cytarabine in 3+7 induction and FLAG-Ida salvage and in acute promyelocytic leukaemia protocols. Randomised trials showed more complete remissions than with daunorubicin, which is why centres prefer it; heart damage, marrow suppression and extravasation injury are the class risks.

Idecabtagene vicleucel was the first myeloma CAR-T (2021) and is now approved after two prior lines based on KarMMa-3.

Idelalisib was the first PI3K inhibitor for blood cancers; it is effective in CLL with rituximab but so toxic (colitis, hepatitis, pneumonitis, infections) that the class has largely been abandoned.

Ifosfamide is an alkylating chemotherapy partnered with doxorubicin in sarcoma and with etoposide in Ewing sarcoma, given with a bladder-protecting drug.

Telix's ready-to-label kit that lets any nuclear medicine department make the gallium PSMA scan for prostate cancer.

The drug that started the targeted therapy era in 2001, turning chronic myeloid leukaemia into a manageable condition with near-normal life expectancy.

Imetelstat is a lipid-linked oligonucleotide that binds the RNA template of telomerase, the enzyme cancer cells use to stay immortal, and it is the first telomerase inhibitor approved for any cancer. In lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes it freed 40% of transfusion-dependent patients from transfusions for at least eight weeks versus 15% on placebo, once growth factors have failed.

Imiquimod (Aldara) is a cream that provokes the skin's own immune system to clear superficial basal cell carcinomas and the sun-damage patches (actinic keratoses) that can turn into skin cancer.