Definition
Drugs used to treat cancer by killing the cells or preventing them from dividing. This prevents the cancer cells from growing and spreading in the body.
Use in clinical context
There are a range of chemotherapy drugs available which can be used alongside other treatment options such as radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Some are specific to particular tumour types or tumours with particular markers or genomic changes, while others can be used for a number of different cancers. Herceptin is an effective treatment for some cancers with mutations in the HER2 gene, but not all cancers have these mutations, so it is not an appropriate treatment for all cancers.
