Posted on 11/03/2015 7:50:47 AM PST by Ellendra
A new cancer treatment strategy is on the horizon that experts say could be a game-changer and spare patients the extreme side effects of existing options such as chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy and other current cancer treatments are brutal, scorched-earth affairs that work because cancer cells are slightly - but not much - more susceptible to the havoc they wreak than the rest of the body. Their side effects are legion, and in many cases horrifying – from hair loss and internal bleeding to chronic nausea and even death.
But last week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time approved a single treatment that can intelligently target cancer cells while leaving healthy ones alone, and simultaneously stimulate the immune system to fight the cancer itself.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
These cancer “game-changer” therapy stories come up once or twice a year. Usually, they’re not heard from again.
That said, some of them do pan out. Cancer is far more survivable today than it was thirty years ago.
I don’t know if there’s a cancer ping list, but I thought you might find this interesting.
Usually, the “game-changer” stories are so early in the testing that most of the results are still hypothetical. This one has been approved, which means it’s gotten through all that testing already.
Ping..
Precisely! I'm dubious as to whether this will be effective against cancer, but it looks very promising for keeping the grant money flowing.
Not called the Krippin Virus I hope...
That’s all ok, just keep the hope alive and that too encourages others to keep researching their new ideas....all for God’s greater glory, and showing us just what a tremendous feat life creation truly is and each day’s survival as such a complex blessing.
Or a frozen asteroid got warmed in our atmosphere and left something of a cell.
If it does work, it’ll be like the new Hep C cure... free if you’re on welfare, otherwise out of reach because the treatment costs $80K and insurance companies don’t cover it.
I did a little looking at T-VEC; it’s a treatment, not a cure. It’s an improvement, not a panacea. It does, however, open a door to new research, that is, convincing viruses to help us out, rather than attack us.
Praying that the trials are successful.
It's designed to be injected into a tumor. This doesn't seem feasible for each and every cancer, but this does seem to me to be a major advance in cancer treatment.
Here is an article on that very promising melanoma treatment.
certain forms are. generally the child leukemias. otherwise stats havent changed that much for those doing the traditional chemo/radiation treatments. the “new” therapies actually are following the type of treatments alternative med using ntural compounds and approaches that targetonly the cancer and boost’the immune system.
chemo and radiation shoot the hostages and the terrorists and hope the hostages survive and no terrorists survive, which they always do, and then they come back stronger and more aggressive because the immune system is so much weaker.
The treatment, which is called T-VEC (for talimogene laherparepvec) but will be sold under the brand name Imlygic, uses a modified virus to hunt cancer cells in what experts said was an important and significant step in the battle against the deadly disease.
It works by introducing a specially modified form of the herpes virus by injection directly into a tumour – specifically skin cancer, the indication for which the drug has been cleared for use.
It was developed by the Massachusetts-based biotech company BioVex, which was acquired in 2011 by biotech behemoth Amgen for $1bn. The genetic code of the virus – which was originally taken from the cold sore of a BioVex employee – has been modified so it can kill only cancer cells.
Better diagnostic tools have a lot to do with improved outcomes, as I can attest from personal experience.
pfl
I hope it works....but it sounds like the beginning of “I Am Legend”.
This may be a game changer since it has been approved. So it has withstood Phase 1 to x trials.
The hope is that even though one tumor gets the injection, the patient’s immune system is triggered to knock out the cancer, all over. Not every person will get this reaction, but it is not unprecedented in medicine. Simple radiation of a single lesion has induced immune response in rare cases. A drug called Xofigo, a radium to prostate cancer in bone, has been known to trigger immune response.
Much of the immune drug development begin with melanoma patients. However, it is likely applicable to prostate and breast cases as well. Look for YERVOY, OPDIVO, KEYTRUDA, ZELBORAF, KEYTRUDA, ZELBORAF in the approval pipeline.
It’s designed to be injected into a tumor. This doesn’t seem feasible for each and every cancer, but this does seem to me to be a major advance in cancer treatment.
...
Some systemic effects have been observed, plus some doctors may choose to use it off label. The downside is that during tests this therapy only showed a life extension of five months. It’s a start in the right direction I think.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.