Precision Medicine Strategies Expand Opportunities for Targeted Cancer Treatment, Says Dr Oren Gilad, Aprea Therapeutics

A key scientific highlight at the 2026 BIO International Convention is the continued shift from broad-spectrum chemotherapy to biomarker-driven targeted therapies, which is reshaping oncology drug development, according to Oren Gilad, PhD, president and CEO of Aprea Therapeutics. In an interview with BioPharm International® ahead of the convention, Dr Gilad discusses trends in precision oncology, advances in patient selection strategies, and the company's development of a WEE1 inhibitor designed to address limitations associated with earlier compounds in the class.

Dr Gilad emphasizes that advances in precision medicine are enabling developers to identify patient populations most likely to benefit from specific treatments, helping improve therapeutic outcomes while potentially reducing treatment-related toxicities. He pointed to several examples of this trend, including RAS-targeted therapies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors.

“The concept of personalized medicine has been proven in the clinic and on the market,” he notes.

This transition reflects a broader movement away from conventional chemotherapy approaches that affect both cancerous and healthy dividing cells. Instead, developers are increasingly focusing on therapies designed to target molecular drivers of disease within defined patient populations, Dr Gilad explains.

What impact are biomarker-driven strategies having on oncology drug development?

Dr Gilad highlights the company's development of a WEE1 inhibitor that was designed to address limitations observed with earlier agents in the class, particularly challenges related to the therapeutic window. He notes that the molecule has demonstrated encouraging translation from preclinical research into clinical evaluation.

The company's clinical strategy includes multiple patient-selection approaches. One approach focuses on uterine serous carcinoma, for which patients are enrolled regardless of specific mutation status because of the high mutational burden associated with the disease. Additional development programs are evaluating patients with cyclin E overexpression, FBXW7 mutations, and PPP2R1A mutations across tumor types, Dr Gilad says.

He also describes programs targeting more narrowly defined patient populations, including human papillomavirus-positive head and neck cancer and cyclin E-overexpressing platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Beyond individual development programs, Dr Gilad emphasizes the increasingly global nature of oncology research, noting that drug development efforts span the United States, Europe, China, and Japan, with collaboration across academic institutions and industry organizations continuing despite broader geopolitical challenges.

Future advances are likely to emerge from targeted therapies, immuno-oncology approaches, ADCs, and small-molecule medicines that match treatments to specific biological characteristics of disease, he adds.

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About the speaker

Oren Gilad, PhD, President and CEO, Aprea Therapeutics

Dr Gilad is also a member of Aprea Therapeutics’ board of directors. Prior to joining Aprea, Dr Gilad was the founding president and CEO of Atrin Pharmaceuticals, guiding the company from initial concept through the successful development of its pipeline of anti-cancer therapies, ultimately leading to its acquisition by Aprea Therapeutics. Previously, Dr Gilad spent 13 years in academia, publishing numerous high-impact scientific articles, including seminal research highlighting the ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related kinase pathway as a critical target in cancer therapy. He holds a PhD from the University of California, Davis, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania.