The ancestors :

• Vaccines, the rare products of leukaemia cellular differentiation such as the derivatives of vitamin A:

These contain two of the following three characteristics:
The products are based on previous knowledge of their modes of action, targets and ligands. They were not derived from organic chemistry using random screening, the method that led to the gigantic pharmaceutical innovation of the 20th century.
They are biological products, often produced in bioreactors from the vats of translational research..

• Biotherapy ranges from macromolecules such as monoclonal antibodies which are administered via intravenous infusion,
•to small molecules such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

This field of research remains very open and innovative. It is possible that, coupled with the necessity to present to the authorities a companion biomarker, target led therapeutic research will be, above and beyond the realms of oncology, the main supplier of therapeutic innovation during the first half of this century.