R&D

About Metastases in the Brain

The incidence of metastatic disease in the brain is increasing. This may be due to a number of factors, such as improved central nervous system (CNS) screening and imaging, but also improved therapies to treat disease outside of the brain, which result in prolonged survival and therefore increase the cumulative risk of a tumor metastasizing to the brain. Lung cancer is the most common cause of brain metastases, followed by breast cancer.

Brain metastases are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, and there are currently no approved drug therapies for brain metastases. Diseases of the brain, such as brain cancers, are very difficult to treat because most drugs, including oncology drugs, cannot reach the brain at levels that are clinically therapeutic. Drugs are unable to reach the brain because of the blood-brain barrier.