Thursday 31 August 2017

US approves breakthrough leukaemia treatment that 'weaponises' blood cells to attack cancer

US approves breakthrough leukaemia treatment that 'weaponises' blood cells to attack cancer Opening a new era in cancer care, US health officials have approved a breakthrough treatment that genetically engineers patients' own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and destroy childhood leukaemia.

The Food and Drug Administration called the approval historic, the first gene therapy to hit the US market. Made from scratch for every patient, it's one of a wave of “living drugs” under development to fight additional blood cancers and other tumours, too.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals set the price for its one-time infusion of so-called “CAR-T cells” at $475,000, but said there would be no charge for patients who didn't show a response within a month. The Independent

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