Novartis Oncology focuses on discovering mechanism-based therapeutics targeted to the right patients with the ultimate goal of improving the survival and quality of life of cancer patients around the world.

Novartis has a long-standing commitment to oncology research and has a robust research portfolio covering therapies for common diseases such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and melanoma. Therapeutic options in development include small molecule kinase inhibitors, deacetylase (DAC) inhibitors, and antibody-based therapeutics such as anti-DKK1.

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) was identified and cloned after researchers discovered TOR1 and TOR2 as the cellular targets of rapamycin.¹ mTOR is highly conserved from yeast to mammals and is central to many signaling pathways that regulate cell growth and cell division.²