Tyrosin kinase inhibitors are still are relatively new group of drugs in oncology. But in the past few years they have gained an increasing importance due to the major and long lasting clinical benefit they induce in a subgroup of tumor patients. This success of tyrosin kinase inhibitors is based on the exquisite importance of tyrosin kinases for growth and survival of tumor cells. Prominent examples of such an oncogene dependency are the BCR-ABL fusion in chronic myeloid leukemia or EGFR mutations in lung adenocarcinoma. Many further tumor entities with clinically tractable oncogene dependencies can be expected in the upcoming years. An intense interaction between clinical science in clinical trials, preclinical research and excellent molecular quality controlled diagnostics is crucial for the further development.