Free Republic

The FDA approved Novartis' revolutionary CAR-T cell leukemia therapy, which uses patients' genetically modified immune cells to fight the disease — at the cost of $475,000 per treatment, according to STAT. The drug, Kymriah, is the first CAR-T therapy to come before the FDA and was approved for the treatment of patients up to 25 years old with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A clinical trial of the leukemia drug deemed a "breakthrough" by physicians revealed 83 percent of patients treated with CAR-T cell therapy have gone into remission. While the price tag of $475,000 per treatment seems staggering, it is...

Tainted Drugs Linked to Maker of Abortion Pill By JAKE HOOKER and WALT BOGDANICH BEIJING — A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs. Chinese drug regulators have accused the manufacturer of the tainted drugs of a cover-up and have closed the factory that produced them. In December, China’s Food and Drug Administration said that the Shanghai police had begun a criminal investigation and that two...

China bans sales of leukemia drug in latest medicine scare BEIJING (AFP) - China's drug regulator has suspended the sales of a leukemia and arthritis drug due to complaints by patients, state press said Sunday, in the latest incident to plague the nation's medicine industry. The move comes as China's quality-control systems have been called into serious question both domestically and internationally due to incidents ranging from fake drugs to tainted food. The State Food and Drug Administration on Saturday suspended the sale of methotrexate after children being treated for acute leukemia reported feeling pain and had difficulty walking after...