Novartis

A radioactive drug that seeks out PSMA on prostate cancer cells; the best-selling radiopharmaceutical ever.

Lutetium-177 dotatate was the first modern radioligand therapy (2018), for neuroendocrine tumours, and is now used in first line.

Alpha-emitting PSMA drugs that produce responses even after Pluvicto fails, held back mainly by isotope supply.

A FAP-targeted theranostic pair: one version images almost any solid tumour, the other treats it with radiation.

Ribociclib is the CDK4/6 inhibitor with the most consistent survival benefit, approved for a broad population of early breast cancer patients since 2024.

The drug that started the targeted therapy era in 2001, turning chronic myeloid leukaemia into a manageable condition with near-normal life expectancy.

JDQ443 is an experimental small-molecule drug from Novartis Pharmaceuticals in phase 3 trials for non-small-cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer, aimed at KRAS.

AAA817 is an experimental radioligand therapy from Novartis Pharmaceuticals in phase 3 trials for prostate cancer, aimed at PSMA.

Pelabresib is an experimental small-molecule drug from Novartis Pharmaceuticals in phase 3 trials, with its target not yet stated publicly.

DJI136 is an experimental CAR-T cell therapy from Novartis Pharmaceuticals in phase 2 trials for non-small-cell lung cancer, aimed at DLL3.

TNO155 is a small-molecule inhibitor from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, in registered phase 2 trials for non-small-cell lung cancer, small-cell lung cancer.

Spartalizumab is a monoclonal antibody from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, in registered phase 2 trials for myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms.

Sabatolimab is a monoclonal antibody from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, in registered phase 2 trials for myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms.

Daily pills that stop the body making oestrogen after menopause, the backbone of hormone therapy for most breast cancers.

An HDAC inhibitor for relapsed myeloma approved in 2015 and withdrawn in 2021 after its confirmatory trial was never completed.

Sonidegib (Odomzo) is the second hedgehog inhibitor for locally advanced basal cell carcinoma, similar in effect and side effects to vismodegib.

Topotecan is the long-standing second-line chemotherapy for relapsed small-cell lung cancer, and now the comparator that new drugs must beat.

ADU-S100 was the first STING agonist in the clinic. Injected directly into tumours, it produced almost no responses, alone or with checkpoint blockade.

Alpelisib was the first PI3K drug for PIK3CA-mutant breast cancer (2019). It is effective, but high blood sugar and rash limited its use, and newer drugs are displacing it.

AMO959 is a small-molecule inhibitor from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, in registered phase 2 trials for prostate cancer.

Asciminib is a BCR::ABL1 blocker that binds a different pocket from every other TKI, approved for all newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukaemia in 2024 and now being tested in Ph-positive ALL.

Bromocriptine was the first pill that could shrink a pituitary tumour. From the 1970s it turned prolactinomas from a surgical disease into one usually controlled with tablets, and it is still used where cabergoline is unavailable or unsuitable.

Capmatinib is a targeted pill for the small group of lung cancers driven by a MET exon 14 skipping mutation, found by tumour sequencing.

Capmatinib and tepotinib are two pills for the roughly 3% of lung cancers with a MET exon 14 skipping mutation.

Ceritinib is a second-generation ALK pill for lung cancer, effective after crizotinib but with gastrointestinal toxicity that limited uptake.

Dabrafenib (Tafinlar) is a capsule that switches off the faulty BRAF protein driving some melanomas, lung, thyroid and other cancers. It is almost always paired with trametinib.

Dabrafenib plus trametinib is the BRAF-plus-MEK pill combination, approved for BRAF V600E lung cancer and, since 2022, for any solid tumour with that mutation.

Eltrombopag is a daily tablet that raises platelet counts by stimulating the bone marrow; it is approved for immune thrombocytopenia and severe aplastic anaemia, and haematologists also use it when low platelets complicate blood cancers and their treatment.

An mTOR-blocking pill that doubled progression-free time with exemestane in 2012 and is now paired with the oral SERD giredestrant.

The PET scan for neuroendocrine tumours that finds far more disease than older scans and confirms eligibility for lutetium radioligand therapy (the theranostic pair).

Gallium-68 PSMA-11 was the first PSMA PET tracer approved in the US (2020), and is made on site from a generator or cyclotron.

Lapatinib was the first HER2-blocking pill (2007) and is now mostly a comparator arm and a late-line option, displaced by tucatinib and ADCs.

Novartis' gallium PSMA scan kit, approved the same day as Pluvicto as the test that qualifies men for that radioactive drug.

The first drug to improve survival in FLT3-mutated AML, added to standard chemotherapy: median survival went from about two years to more than six.

Nelarabine (Arranon) is an infusion for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and lymphoma that has come back after at least two other treatments; it is now also added to first-line therapy for children with T-cell leukaemia.

Nilotinib is a second-generation CML pill that produces deeper responses faster than imatinib, at the cost of cardiovascular and metabolic side effects.

Ofatumumab (Arzerra) is a fully human anti-CD20 antibody for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, used with chlorambucil in untreated patients or alone after other drugs have failed; the same molecule is sold as Kesimpta for multiple sclerosis.

Pamidronate (Aredia) is a bisphosphonate infusion approved in 1991 for dangerously high blood calcium in cancer and later for bone damage from myeloma and breast cancer, where it roughly halved skeletal complications. Its two-hour infusion, against fifteen minutes for zoledronic acid, pushed most centres to switch, though it is cheaper and may cause less jaw osteonecrosis.

Pazopanib is the only multi-kinase inhibitor approved for soft-tissue sarcoma (excluding fat-derived tumours), used after chemotherapy fails.

Ruxolitinib was the first JAK inhibitor: it shrinks the spleen and relieves symptoms in myelofibrosis and controls blood counts in polycythaemia vera, without eliminating the disease clone.

Monthly injections of a synthetic hormone that both quiets tumour hormone symptoms and slows tumour growth, the first treatment for most neuroendocrine tumours.

Tisagenlecleucel was the first CAR-T therapy ever approved (2017), for children and young adults whose leukaemia had come back after everything else.

Trametinib (Mekinist) blocks MEK, the protein one step below BRAF in the growth-signal chain. Paired with dabrafenib it treats BRAF-mutant melanoma, lung, thyroid and other cancers, including brain tumours in children.

Zoledronic acid (Zometa) is a fifteen-minute infusion given every few weeks or months to strengthen bone and prevent fractures, spinal cord compression and the need for radiotherapy in people with myeloma or cancer that has spread to bone; it also treats dangerously high calcium caused by cancer.