Therapeutic additions and possible deletions in oncology in 2011

Approval of agents for the treatment of cancers by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was granted to only six new chemical entities in the three years spanning 2008 to 2010. By contrast, in the first nine months of 2011, six new chemical entities were approved for use in cancer. This approval rate is unprecedented and reflects the advances in science since the approval of the first monoclonal antibody (rituximab) in 1997 and the first targeted small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor (imatinib) in 2001 for non-Hodgkins lymphoma and chronic myelogenous leukemia, respectively. Here we briefly discuss the newly approved agents, a possible deletion from the therapeutic armamentarium, and the use of the FDA accelerated approval process.