The Food and Drug Administration has given approval to the Dendreon Provenge, a prostate cancer treatment. The drug is the first anti-cancer vaccine to get FDA approval. The drug was found to prolong the life of cancer patients by a median four months. This type of vaccine is in its early stages of development and takes lots of money now to get treated with it. .
Dendreon Provenge study results
The lives of patients treated with Dendreon Provenge were extended by a median 4.1 months longer than placebo, as outlined by WebMD. 23% of placebo subjects were living 3 years following the study, as contrasted with 32% treated with Provenge.
Not just a simple ordinary shot
Provenge isn’t really just a simple shot, it’s a process. Dendreon harvests immune cells first. There they are treated with Provenge, a proprietary hormone treatment process, and once confirmed as being sufficiently modified, are re-introduced to the patient’s system in a 3 dose series. It works by altering immune system responses, so that any cancer cells that would be mistaken for ordinary cells are recognized as a danger. So far, it is not expected to be cheap, at all. The costs of a course of treatment are expected to run between $ 40,000 and $ 100,000.
Kind of a breakthrough
Dendreon Provenge will slow cancer, but not cure or prevent it. There are no dyed-in-the-wool cures for cancer as yet, but this is at least a optimistic step in that direction. The only vaccines against cancer are really vaccines against certain strains of the human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer. This can be a step towards greater breakthroughs. Perhaps a cure will be found in the next generations.
Sources
WebMD
http://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/news/20100429/fda-oks-provenge-prostate-cancer-therapy
