The Different Types of Chemotherapy Drugs

Chemotherapy drugs can be divided into several groups based on factors such as how they work, their chemical structure, and their relationship to another drug. Some chemotherapy drugs are grouped together because they were derived from the same plant. Because some drugs act in more than one way, they may belong to more than one group.

The basic groups of chemotherapy drugs currently in use are:

Alkylating agents

Antimetabolites

Anti-tumor antibiotics

Coticosteriods

Mitotic inhibitors

Topoisomerase inhibitors

Miscellaneous chemotherapy drugs

Other types of cancer drugs