Many receptor tyrosine kinase pathways are involved in cancer proliferation, and many drugs have been designed to affect one or more of them. Foretinib, designed by Exelixis and licensed to GlaxoSmithKline, acts on both c-Met and VEGFR-2.1 c-Met is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is vital in regulating cell growth and survival. It is activated by binding to the ligand hepatocyte growth factor, and in some forms of cancer the receptor is overexpressed or mutated.
VEGFR-2, meanwhile, is expressed on the surface of vascular endothelial cells. By targeting both of these, it cuts out the possibility of one pathway being upregulated to compensate for the blocking of the other. It also appears to act on at least two other kinases, RON and AxI.
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