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A DRUG that finds and fights cancer wherever it is in the body has been approved in the US for the first time.

Pembrolizumab helps the body’s immune system fight cancers that carry particular signatures on the surface of their cells, regardless of where the tumour is or where the cancer began. Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the drug for treating people who test positive for either of two signatures.

“Until now, the FDA has approved cancer treatments based on where in the body the cancer started,” says of the FDA.

“This approval marks the start of a new era in how we think about cancer therapy,” says , chief clinician at the charity Cancer Research UK.

“This approval marks the start of a new era in how we think about cancer therapy”

Pembrolizumab has previously only been approved for cancers of known origin, such as lung cancer and metastatic melanoma.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Targeting cancer”