We’ve got some pretty exciting news about a new lukemia drug. The results so far have been nothing short of spectacular. A small research group developed the drug using a benign form of the HIV virus with modifications to white blood cells and that made the white cells a sort of serial killer in search of cancer cells.
In this case they were looking for chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL. For the experiment, blood was taken from each patient and T-cells removed. After they were altered in a lab, millions of the cells were returned to the patient in three infusions. Two of the test subjects appear cancer-free up to a year after treatment, and the third had a partial response. Scientists are already preparing to try the approach for other kinds of cancer.
“It worked great. We were surprised it worked as well as it did,” said Dr. Carl June, a gene therapy expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “We’re just a year out now. We need to find out how long these remissions last.”
He led the study, published Wednesday by two journals, New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine. The company applied for research grants, but they were too small to gain anyone’s attention, until now. This news has cancer researching buzzing and it’s grabbed the attention of the big organizations that fund cancer research.
“It worked great. We were surprised it worked as well as it did,” said Dr. Carl June, a gene therapy expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “We’re just a year out now. We need to find out how long these remissions last.”
Wow. Compare that to “climate change” research.
This is such wonderful news.
“The company applied for research grants, but they were too small to gain anyone’s attention”
The entrepreneurial spirit marches on!