The Picture With The Smile That Says So Much About Advances In Cancer Care

It was the picture (see below) that, to me, said it all: a 96 year old woman -- one of the first patients in the world to receive a brand new cancer drug--, and a large tumor on her neck had melted completely away. But it was the smile on her lips that you couldn't avoid noticing. Let's set the stage: You have spent the last 5 days in a large convention center at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago running from presentation to presentation and meeting to meeting. You have heard more information presented in more rapid fire sequence than any human being can possibly absorb. You have logged 22 miles (literally) in the process. You are a bit tired and run down, sitting in the last presentation of the last session on the last day of the meeting and you are craving to return home. Then the lecturer shows a picture that reminds you why you do what you do. The topic of the session was a new drug to treat cancer. It is called MEDI4736 and is in the general class of immunotherapy drugs which have generated so much excitement at this meeting and elsewhere. These are drugs which have been reported to stabilize and/or shrink melanomas and now other cancers by allowing the body to once again recognize cancer cells as "outsiders". There has been considerable success in using these drugs to treat melanoma, and now a study is being presented which expands the use of this new drug in early trials against a variety of cancers. In fact, the drug has ...
Source: Dr. Len's Cancer Blog - Category: Cancer Authors: Tags: Access to care Cancer Care Media Medicare Medications Melanoma Other cancers Research Survivors Treatment Source Type: blogs