The Developmental Therapeutics Branch advances novel therapeutic strategies and conducts clinical trials based on cancer-specific genomic, epigenetic and metabolic alterations, drug design, and molecular mechanisms of drug action to achieve precision medicine. The branch integrates both basic and translational science programs. The basic program focuses on cancer-specific genomic and epigenomic alterations, oxidative signaling, molecular pharmacology and drug resistance. The translational clinical program focuses on novel therapeutic agents across a spectrum of diseases and disease mechanisms. Novel therapeutic modalities are selected based on pharmacodynamic and genomic biomarkers and mechanistic hypotheses to assess clinical activity and molecular determinants of response at the early phase of drug development.

The Developmental Therapeutics Branch is organized in several research groups led by principal investigators focusing on complementary areas of interest. The research laboratories and the administrative staff are located in Building 37, except for Dr. Susan Bates and Dr. Jane B. Trepel, whose laboratories are located in Building 10. The branch's clinical trials are conducted at the NIH Clinical Center in Building 10. The Developmental Therapeutics Branch includes a Genomics and Bioinformatics Group (managed by William C. Reinhold under the leadership of Dr. Yves Pommier). The Genomics and Bioinformatics Group explores the relationships between genomic alterations in malignant cells and their response to chemotherapeutic agents using molecular databases at the DNA, RNA and protein levels.