A Detailed Review of FDA-Approved Drugs for Lung Cancer: Progress in Precision Medicine

In the past few years, lung cancer (LC) accounted for 18% of all cancer-related deaths, making it one of the top causes of cancer-related deaths globally. Even with improvements in early detection and treatment, LC remains a major global health concern. Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy have been the mainstays of treatment in the past, but the advent of immunotherapy and targeted medicines in recent years has brought about a paradigm shift. These methods concentrate on signaling pathways that are essential to the growth of tumors and are controlled by driver genes including EGFR, KRAS, and MET. Patients with non- small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) now have better intermediate survival rates thanks to the development of customized therapy made possible by the identification of these genes. The FDA's clearance procedure for cancer medications is also reviewed, with special attention paid to accelerated approvals, the use of surrogate endpoints, and international programs like Project Orbis that speed up access to innovative treatments. Additionally, this article explores the mechanisms of action and effectiveness of five FDA-approved medications in treating advanced LC cases: larotrectinib, entrectinib, tepotinib, osimertinib, and repotrectinib. Notwithstanding these developments, problems including tumor recurrence and resistance to first successful treatments are still common. This emphasizes how crucial it is to conduct more research in order to get over these obstacles and enhance the long-term results for patients with lung cancer