Finding a Cure for Cancer | By J. Partyka, PharmD, BCPS | Cancer Care and Research @Pharmative
During my adult life, one of the most common questions which I receive is "when are they going to find a cure for cancer?" My first response, is the term cancer refers to over one hundred different types of complicated diseases and my second response is many cancers can be prevented or treated and possibly cured by practising prevention measures (for example, don't smoke or use sunscreen), early detetection (for example, breast cancer screening with mamography) and early detection by CT or MRI imaging with the hopes of finding the cancer before it spreads to other organs, this is refered to as early stage of disease (stages I and II). It's important to remember that not all cancers can be cured or even "slowed down" by halting the cancer cells from spreading (that is, disease progression), and some cancers may even be drug resistant to anti-cancer agents.
Over the past three decades, new types of targeted therapies have emerged into the clinics with new hope and robust anti-cancer activity. During this period, I’ve had the priviledge to work on the clinical development of a number of anti-cancer drugs with a team of thousands of hard working scientists, HCPs and pharmaceutical professionals all over the world.
In 2010, I relocated back to Boston to work with a team of scientists on a novel breakthrough named Adecetris (brentuximab vedotin) for the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other types of lymphomas. Adcetris (adcetris.com) is a brand new class of agents called antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), an antibody which targets a marker on the cancer cell and is linked to a potent anticancer agent, MMAE. MMAE is an anti-mitotic agent which prevents the cancer cells from multiplying. Once the ADC enters into the cell by targeting the marker, CD30 expressed on the surface of the cancer cell, the anti-cancer agent, MMAE is cleaved off the antibody and is free to stop the lymphoma cancer cell from multipling. This type of drug is one type of immuno-therapy and is often refered to as "ADC targeted immuno-therapy.
Over the recent years, a whole new class of anti-cancer immunotherapy drugs called "Checkpoint Inhibitors" have emerged into the clinic and have proven to have significant benefit in halting the progression of disease. For more information on checkpoint inhibitors see https://www.cancer.org/treatment.html .
The good news is that numerous new targeted immunotherapies and new classes of targeted drugs are now available to fight many different types of cancers and a whole new era has begun of personalized medicine including CAR-T cell targeted immunotherapy. For more information about CAR-T cell therapy see video below. The fantastic news is that many of these agents are already approved for use for specific indications to treat many different types of cancers. Additional clinical trials are ongoing to see if these agents can further maximize the benefit by combining them with other types of potent anti-cancer drugs.
If you are interested to see if you might be able to participate in a cancer clinical trial see clinicaltrials.gov for more information.
Tags: #Immunotherapy #ADCs #PersonalisedMedicine #FightCancer #CancerCareAndResearch @Pharmative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXADrg_ckhI
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first treatment that genetically engineers patients' own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and ...
@Ben Ryan For sure, CAR-T therapy has tremendous potential for other diseases too. Two different CAR-T drugs are now FDA approved to treat hematological malignancies. Great promise!
It's been 16 years since I was first diagnosed with cancer, and it's AMAZING how much treatments and protocols have changed . . . for the better! It must be thrilling to be a part of medical history and to know your work could be saving lives.
During my adult life, one of the most common questions which I receive is "when are they going to find a cure for cancer?" My first response, is the term cancer refers to over one hundred different types of complicated diseases and my second response is many cancers can be prevented or treated and possibly cured by practising prevention measures (for example, don't smoke or use sunscreen), early detetection (for example, breast cancer screening with mamography) and early detection by CT or MRI imaging with the hopes of finding the cancer before it spreads to other organs, this is refered to as early stage of disease (stages I and II). It's important to remember that not all cancers can be cured or even "slowed down" by halting the cancer cells from spreading (that is, disease progression), and some cancers may even be drug resistant to anti-cancer agents.
Over the past three decades, new types of targeted therapies have emerged into the clinics with new hope and robust anti-cancer activity. During this period, I’ve had the priviledge to work on the clinical development of a number of anti-cancer drugs with a team of thousands of hard working scientists, HCPs and pharmaceutical professionals all over the world.
In 2010, I relocated back to Boston to work with a team of scientists on a novel breakthrough named Adecetris (brentuximab vedotin) for the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other types of lymphomas. Adcetris (adcetris.com) is a brand new class of agents called antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), an antibody which targets a marker on the cancer cell and is linked to a potent anticancer agent, MMAE. MMAE is an anti-mitotic agent which prevents the cancer cells from multiplying. Once the ADC enters into the cell by targeting the marker, CD30 expressed on the surface of the cancer cell, the anti-cancer agent, MMAE is cleaved off the antibody and is free to stop the lymphoma cancer cell from multipling. This type of drug is one type of immuno-therapy and is often refered to as "ADC targeted immuno-therapy.
Over the recent years, a whole new class of anti-cancer immunotherapy drugs called "Checkpoint Inhibitors" have emerged into the clinic and have proven to have significant benefit in halting the progression of disease. For more information on checkpoint inhibitors see https://www.cancer.org/treatment.html .
The good news is that numerous new targeted immunotherapies and new classes of targeted drugs are now available to fight many different types of cancers and a whole new era has begun of personalized medicine including CAR-T cell targeted immunotherapy. For more information about CAR-T cell therapy see video below. The fantastic news is that many of these agents are already approved for use for specific indications to treat many different types of cancers. Additional clinical trials are ongoing to see if these agents can further maximize the benefit by combining them with other types of potent anti-cancer drugs.
If you are interested to see if you might be able to participate in a cancer clinical trial see clinicaltrials.gov for more information.
Tags: #Immunotherapy #ADCs #PersonalisedMedicine #FightCancer #CancerCareAndResearch @Pharmative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXADrg_ckhI
A Look at How CAR-T Cell Therapy Works
youtube.com
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first treatment that genetically engineers patients' own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and ...
It will be very interesting to see how this avenue of scientific inquiry contributes to advancements in HIV treatment/cure as well.
@Ben Ryan For sure, CAR-T therapy has tremendous potential for other diseases too. Two different CAR-T drugs are now FDA approved to treat hematological malignancies. Great promise!
It's been 16 years since I was first diagnosed with cancer, and it's AMAZING how much treatments and protocols have changed . . . for the better! It must be thrilling to be a part of medical history and to know your work could be saving lives.
@Sarah Isenberg Great comment.Here’sto your health!