Combining potent cancer drugs in a single multitargeting molecule

To give cancer treatments the greatest possible chance of success, patients are often treated with multiple drugs that attack the cancer using different mechanisms. A team of researchers has now combined three highly potent drugs in a single multitargeting prodrug that is activated in the tumor cells. As the team report in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, their prodrug was more effective, and caused fewer side effects in mice, than the drugs alone or in a mixture.