UCLA researchers have played a significant role in the development of several major cancer-fighting drugs, impacting the treatment and survival rates for patients around the world. The ongoing work is conducted through collaborations at UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Herceptin (trastuzumab) was developed in the 1990s by a team led by Dr. Dennis Slamon at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. Before its introduction, women diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer faced limited life expectancy. Slamon explained their approach: “(W)e wanted to try and study the cancer cell at a molecular level … identify what was broken and find out if we could target that specifically,” he said. “The hope would be if we could target that specifically, we’d come up with something that was hopefully more effective and safer because normal cells wouldn’t have what was broken, only the cancer cells.” Herceptin has been available since 1998 and has benefited millions globally.
For prostate cancer, which affects about one in eight men in the United States according to data from the American Cancer Society, two drugs emerged from UCLA research: Xtandi (enzalutamide) and Erleada (apalutamide). Developed by professor Michael Jung and Dr. Charles Sawyers, Xtandi became available in 2012 for advanced-stage prostate cancer patients. Their subsequent drug, Erleada, received FDA approval in 2018 after early clinical success. Jung commented on its impact: “The phase 3 clinical trial found that Erleada gives men an extra two years of healthy life before their cancer spreads,” he said. “To give someone an extra two years of healthy life is fabulous.”
Ibrance (palbociclib), now used widely for estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) and HER2-negative breast cancers, originated from work by Slamon and Dr. Richard Finn with Pfizer’s compound PD-0332991 in the mid-2000s. Their research led to palbociclib’s approval as part of combination therapy and established CDK4/6 inhibitors as a new class of treatments.
In leukemia research during the mid-1980s, UCLA’s Dr. Owen Witte discovered tyrosine kinase enzymes’ role in chronic myelogenous leukemia symptoms. This finding informed later research led by Brian Druker at Oregon Health & Science University into molecules inhibiting tyrosine kinase activity. Pharmaceutical company Novartis then manufactured Gleevec (imatinib), approved by the FDA in 2001 as a targeted therapy for certain leukemias.
Slamon also contributed to discoveries leading to Kisqali (ribociclib) for HR-positive breast cancer treatment. A clinical trial called NATALEE showed ribociclib combined with endocrine therapy reduced recurrence risk for early-stage disease; these results led to FDA approval in September 2024.
Keytruda (pembrolizumab) was initially limited in use until UCLA professor Dr. Antoni Ribas helped demonstrate its effectiveness against advanced melanoma through a large-scale phase 1 study involving over 600 patients across multiple continents: “Based on the results, the FDA granted pembrolizumab accelerated approval in 2014.” Building on immunologic principles from this research, UCLA’s Dr. Edward Garon led further studies supporting Keytruda’s approval for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
Cyramza (ramucirumab) received FDA approval for lung cancer treatment following an international phase 3 clinical trial coordinated partly at UCLA; it marked progress as “the first drug in a decade to demonstrate a survival benefit” among certain lung cancer patients who had exhausted other options, according to Garon: “It is exciting to see that by adding ramucirumab (Cyramza) to docetaxel, patients were able to live longer than those who were treated with the standard approach,” he said at the time. “We are pleased to have access to a drug that lengthens survival time in a population of lung cancer patients who often have few treatment options.” Cyramza is now used against various types of cancers.
Research at UCLA continues toward new therapies aiming to improve outcomes for people facing different forms of cancer worldwide.
