Advances in Hybrid Anticancer Drugs: Innovations and Therapeutic Potential

Dear Colleagues, 

Despite significant advances in anticancer agents, cancer remains a major medical challenge due to the complexity and heterogeneity of tumor cells, as well as their capacity to develop treatment resistance. Researchers are therefore exploring novel approaches to create more effective and safer drugs, with a particularly promising strategy focused on hybrid molecules that combine multiple mechanisms of action or enhance existing therapies.

Developing hybrid anticancer agents entails combining multiple pharmacophores and privileged scaffolds into a single molecule to overcome drug resistance, enhance cytotoxicity against cancer cells, and improve selectivity. Such strategies aim to achieve a comprehensive anticancer effect by simultaneously targeting two or more key pathogenic pathways.

This Special Issue aims to showcase the latest developments in hybrid anticancer drugs, including innovative synthetic methods, therapeutic potential, and mechanistic insights. We especially welcome submissions featuring targeted drug design aimed at influencing specific pathogenetic pathways, as well as research presenting both in vitro and in vivo findings and robust in silico evidence supporting cytotoxic activity and predicted mechanisms of action.

We invite original research and review articles that detail novel approaches, discuss emerging trends, and propose pathways for future discovery and development of new, more effective anticancer drugs.

Dr. Dmytro Khylyuk
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.