Targeted therapy for cancer of unknown primary

In recent years, new drugs that are aimed at (target) certain parts of cancer cells have been developed. These targeted drugs do little damage to normal cells. Each type works differently, but they all change the way a cancer cell grows, divides, repairs itself, or works with other cells. Targeted drugs often have less severe side effects.

A number of targeted therapy drugs are used to treat breast cancer (information about these can be found in the section “Targeted therapy for breast cancer” in our document Breast Cancer.

Other targeted therapy drugs are used for cancers that start in other places, such as the throat, the lung, and the pancreas. These may be helpful in some cases of cancer of unknown primary. For more details, see the documents about those cancers, such as, Laryngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancer, Lung Cancer (Non-Small Cell), and Pancreatic Cancer.