FDA approves first virus will kill cancer cells.
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/fda-approves-first-virus-will-kill-cancer-cells/
BY THE NUMBERS, the newest FDA-approved treatment for skin cancer doesnt seem a real game changer. A $65,000 course of treatment extends melanoma patients lives by less than four and a half months, on averageand that result is barely statistically significant.
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Its how the new drugImlygic, made by the biotechnology company Amgenworks that has the oncology world so worked up. Imlygic is a virusalive and infectious, the first to get a stamp of approval in the US for its ability to attack cancer cells. It opens a whole new front in the fight against cancer, which has the sneaky habit of coming back after chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. It is a totally new class of weapons that we can now use, says Antonio Chiocca, a neurosurgeon at Brigham and Womens Hospital. And the armory could be bigger, because coming up right behind Imlygic are over a dozen clinical trials for more anti-cancer viruses.
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Imlygic itself is a reengineered version of the herpesvirusthe one that causes cold sores. To administer the drug, oncologists inject a massive dosemillions of virusesdirectly into the skin tumor. Herpesvirus also prefers to infect cancer cells, busting them into bits. The immune system sees all the debris, says Chiocca. This makes the immune system wake up and say, Hey, theres something going on here. Lets check it out. So its a two-fer: Notionally, Imlygic attacks the tumor directly, and helps stimulate the patients own immune system into joining the fight.
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What the data do show, though, is that Imlygic isnt that great a drug by itself. In trials it extended survival time by 4.4 months and shrunk tumors for at least six months in 16 percent of patients. Thats not terribly effective (though its side effectsflu-like symptomsare downright mild compared to most chemotherapy). It does show promise in combination with other drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, which inhibit the molecules that inhibitso basically, stimulatethe immune system. One small trial of 19 patients with Imlygic and a checkpoint inhibitor called Yervoy found a response for half of the patients. I think these combination approaches are where the real action is going to happen the future, Bell says.
alot more at the link.
cancer sucks.