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24 to 36 mths away....

NOSLEEPNOSLEEP Member Posts: 4,526
edited September 2011 in General Discussion
From receiving FDA approval... A new heavy weight in the fight against cancer!

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/08/31/ottawa-researchers-make-advances-in-fight-against-cancer

OTTAWA - Other than an outright cure, the Holy Grail in the fight against cancer is finding a way to stop tumours from growing and spreading. Thanks to a scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and his home-grown virus, that goal is closer than ever.

Dr. John Bell said the genetically engineered virus JX594, which is related to the virus used to vaccinate against smallpox, attacks and kills cancer cells while leaving surrounding healthy tissue intact.

"When people get chemotherapy, they really get devastated by the treatment because the chemotherapy attacks not only the cancer, but their normal tissues," Bell said.

"What we've done is build viruses that are basically parasites of the tumour that directly infect it and kill it without affecting the normal tissue.

"So the new wrinkle to this is that we've shown we can keep the virus in the bloodstream of patients. It can swim around their body and look everywhere for where cancer may be hiding and attack it."

The minor side effects include flu-like symptoms that last usually for less than 24 hours and can be treated with over-the-counter remedies.

Bell and his team gave a single injection of the virus to 23 terminally ill cancer patients.

Ten days later, seven of the eight that were given a higher dose had evidence that the virus replicated in their tumour, but did not affect normal tissue. Six of those patients saw their tumours shrink or at least stop growing.

The trial results were published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Bell, who co-authored the article and is a professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa, said he and a team of scientists in Ottawa and around the world have been studying this concept for more than a decade.

He estimates that the treatment is only 24 to 36 months away from receiving FDA approval.

"We're sort of in the home stretch now," he said. "We still have to do larger studies to prove that this is holding up, but in animal models it looks very, very good and now the results from the latest trial are very optimistic."

The next step will involve a trial of 120 patients with liver cancer.

"In this trial, we'll compare our virus to the best therapy currently available for liver cancer and we're hoping to show that our virus is better."

The virus has not yet shown the same level of success on leukemia and lymphoma.

Comments

  • blazen91blazen91 Member Posts: 270 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    A truly amazing story! Unfortunately, it will be killed by BIG PHARMA!
  • KEVD18KEVD18 Member Posts: 15,037
    edited November -1
    This is exactly how I am legend started, word for word. I've seen that movie many times. It didn't end well....
  • armilitearmilite Member Posts: 35,478 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It will never happen, imagine finding a cure for cancer and a host of other diseases. It would throw the country into turmoil. All those grants and research colleges or companies would be gone. Universities would close, hospitals would have cut-backs and a whole lotta companies that only exist because of grants and such would be gone over night. There's just to much money at stake.
  • KEVD18KEVD18 Member Posts: 15,037
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by armilite
    It will never happen, imagine finding a cure for cancer and a host of other diseases. It would throw the country into turmoil. All those grants and research colleges or companies would be gone. Universities would close, hospitals would have cut-backs and a whole lotta companies that only exist because of grants and such would be gone over night. There's just to much money at stake.


    i wont argue with you that there is more money in treating cancer(unsucessfully) than there is in curing it; but if there was a miracle cure for cancer developed, the agencies, foundations, research departments, etc would simple rebrand and move on to another disease. if theres one thing we're certainly not sure out, its diseases that people want a magic pill to cure.
  • guntech59guntech59 Member Posts: 23,187 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by KEVD18
    This is exactly how I am legend started, word for word. I've seen that movie many times. It didn't end well....


    ZOMBIES!!!!!!!
  • andrewsw16andrewsw16 Member Posts: 10,728 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Don't forget to get a German Shepherd that is at least partially immune to the zombie virus.
  • NOSLEEPNOSLEEP Member Posts: 4,526
    edited November -1
    I thought of the "I am legend" Zombies...[:D] But on the upside I believe we will be hearing more about this cancer killing virus in the near future. I hope it continues to have promise and we can ratchet up another win in the fight against cancer. Just to many folks fighting this blight...
  • scottm21166scottm21166 Member Posts: 20,723
    edited November -1
    they could always replace the search for a cure to some other disease. Diabetes, AIDS, the common cold...[;)]
  • garanchgaranch Member Posts: 3,681
    edited November -1
    It will never happen. Too much money tied up in current research and treatment.

    Why do you think that tire companies sell tires according to their mileage ratings? How much you are willing to pay will determine how good your tire is. They have the technology to build a tire that would last for the life of your vehicle but it would cut their own throats because you would not have to give them your money over and over and over. Same with battery companies. They can make them last as long as they want to.
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