Final answer:
New chemotherapy drugs are being designed to enable the immune system to more effectively target and destroy cancer cells. Immunotherapy and cancer vaccines are key approaches that work by boosting the body's natural defense mechanisms with less toxicity than traditional chemotherapy.
Step-by-step explanation:
The new drug used in chemotherapy aims to recruit the immune system to successfully attack cancer cells. Traditional chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells, often leading to harmful side effects due to damage to healthy cells. In contrast, innovative therapies such as immunotherapy and cancer vaccines focus on enhancing the body's immune response to specifically target only cancer cells, thereby reducing collateral damage to healthy cells.
Advances in immunotherapy have been promising, with several strategies undergoing research and clinical trials. For example, non-specific immunotherapies, cancer vaccination, and the use of monoclonal antibodies are being explored as potential treatments that could work alone or in conjunction with traditional methods like chemotherapy.
This has led to the FDA approval of certain immunotherapies which aim to boost the body's natural ability to fight cancer.
Moreover, nanotechnology is also being used to augment immunotherapy methods, which could further enhance the targeted approach of the immune system against abnormally dividing cancer cells. The effectiveness of these emerging therapies continues to be studied, offering hope for more precise and less toxic cancer treatments in the future.