Neither fusion inhibitors nor immune therapy are likely to make much impact in the developing world, simply because of cost.
"It's the hallmark of immune therapy--it doesn't happen often, but once it happens, those patients live years, " says UCLA oncologist Antoni Ribas.
One famous researcher, the National Cancer Institute's Steven Rosenberg, says his immune cell therapy, roughly similar to Yee's, helps 72% of melanoma patients when given after chemo and radiation.
Another immune-boosting therapy against cancer, the natural immune system protein interleukin-2, has been limited by severe side effects.
Glaxo has projects on everything from stem cells to gene therapy for rare immune diseases to an emerging area called epigenetics, which looks at how genes are modified.
Researchers reported fresh evidence Wednesday that using gene therapy to manipulate the immune system is emerging as a promising new strategy in the fight against cancer.
Medicare will not pay for all possible uses of Provenge, a cell therapy meant to prime the immune system to fight tumors.
On April 28 Dendreon of Seattle notched Food and Drug Administration approval for Provenge, its cell therapy designed to train the immune system to fight prostate cancer.
The Glaxo gene therapy program will focus on a severe immune deficiency called ADA-SCID, in which kids cannot make a crucial enzyme called adenosine deaminase that is needed to create immune system cells.
The HPTN 052 clinical trial, an international HIV prevention trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), found that if HIV-infected heterosexual individuals begin taking antiretroviral medicines when their immune systems are relatively healthy (as opposed to delaying therapy until the disease has advanced), they are 96 percent less likely to transmit the virus to their uninfected partners.
GlaxoSmithkline today unveiled a surprising deal to commercialize a new gene therapy technique for an ultra-rare type of immune deficiency.
There was no adverse reaction to the drugs, and if my immune system weakens in later years there are encouraging signs that the therapy will help to counter that - and hopefully this will continue to keep me healthy.
The new anti-PD-1 inhibitor therapy, in essence, blocks the process that inhibits the immune system.
The therapy includes injections of the drug interferon, which stimulates the immune system and causes the bulk of the difficult side effects, and two antiviral drugs taken orally.
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Geron's current CEO, Thomas Okarma , believes the first uses of embryonic stem cells as a therapy will have to make use of powerful drugs that suppress the immune system.
But Dr Franco Lori from the Research Institute for Genetic and Human Therapy in Washington DC has been investigating whether interruptions in treatment might actually boost the immune system.
Provenge is a cell therapy that must be manufactured on a case-by-case basis from each patients immune cells, requiring Dendreon to obtain and process patient samples with FedEx-like acumen.
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Patients who are successfully treated for HL continue to have this immune suppression and long term have a higher risk of leukemia and some other cancers because of their therapy.
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But even avoiding the immune problem, I mean nobody has exactly figured out how to use embryonic stem cells or these cells for therapy yet.
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