Glossary of Medical Terms
Glossary of medical terms
- Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels. Tumours need a dedicated blood supply to provide the oxygen and other essential nutrients they require in order to grow beyond a certain size. Without angiogenesis, a tumor cannot grow beyond a certain size.
- The Tumour Microenvironment (TME): is the environment immediately surrounding a tumour. The TME includes blood vessels, immune cells, nerves, fibroblasts and signalling molecules.
- Castrate-resistant prostate cancer- Progressive disease despite castrate levels of testosterone
- Clinical trials- (Cancer) clinical trials are studies whereby trial participants have a diagnosis of cancer and volunteer to test a new treatment. Clinical trials compare a new treatment to standard one that is already available; a placebo; a different dose or to other comparators
- Malignant- cancerous
- Malignancy- A cancerous tumour that can invade and destroy nearby tissue and spread to other parts of the body
- Metastatic- Describes cancer that has spread from where it started to another part of the body
- Metastasis - The spread of cancer from where it started to another part of the body. Also used to describe a secondary cancer formed when cancer cells spread in this way.
- Proof of concept - Proof of concept or PoC refers to early clinical drug development, conventionally divided into the phases of clinical research
- Intellectual Property (IP) - intellectual property laws protect the rights of small inventors and large corporations alike to guarantee “the first to invent” of various aspects of a drug candidate’s development, the exclusive right to the patents. The primary, well-known function of an IP right is to give its holder a competitive advantage in its commercial activities, by preventing unauthorised exploitation by thirds. IP rights provide with powerful weapons to compete with much larger companies
- First-in-class - A first-in-class medication is a pharmaceutical that uses a "new and unique mechanism of action" to treat a particular medical condition. First-in-class status has no regulatory effect.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services responsible for protecting public health through the control and supervision of specific products, including pharmaceuticals
- The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) - the regulatory body that governs therapeutic goods in Australia
