What is the core problem with today's cancer drugs?

Question

Accepted Answer

_Even the best cancer drugs are imprecise, and the imprecision forces a dose that limits how well they work._

> The number one problem with cancer drugs is systemic toxicity. When you dose someone, the drug doesn't only work on the tumor, it also works on healthy cells. That's why your hair falls out in chemotherapy. The top 10 cancer drugs produce 87 billion dollars a year, and on average they give you 12 months more to live and 15 percentage points more survival, which gets you to 49% in total, meaning every second person still dies.

Source: [Tomorrow's Medicine, with Cyriac Roeding (eCornell Keynote)](https://ecornell.cornell.edu/keynotes/view/K052126/)

Q&A, oncology

What is the core problem with today's cancer drugs?