One theory, which may explain its failure against breast cancer, is that there may be tissue-specific proteins that spur tumor growth in the absence of VEGF.
Instead, he says, researchers will perform tests to determine which mutations drive a tumor's growth and then give drugs that hit those specific mutations.
Instead of aiming at broad tumor categories, such as all patients with lung cancer or colon cancer, the new medicines target specific subsets of patients whose tumors have particular gene mutations.