U.S. Clears First 'Living Drug' For Tough Childhood Leukemia

<p>The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first treatment that genetically engineers patients&rsquo; own blood cells to seek and destroy childhood leukemia.</p>

Wednesday, August 30th 2017, 11:21 am

By: News On 6


The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first treatment that genetically engineers patients’ own blood cells to seek and destroy childhood leukemia. The move opens a new era in cancer care.

FDA’s action Wednesday makes Novartis Pharmaceutical’s CAR-T cell treatment the first type of gene therapy to hit the U.S. market. It’s one in a wave of “living drugs” being developed for blood cancers and maybe other tumors, too.

The Novartis therapy is for children and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, who have relapsed despite today’s best treatments. It’s made from scratch, an expensive process that takes about three weeks. Despite some serious side effects, a key test found a one-time infusion put about 80 percent of hard-to-treat patients into remission.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

August 30th, 2017

March 14th, 2024

December 4th, 2023

September 25th, 2023

Top Headlines

March 29th, 2024

March 29th, 2024

March 29th, 2024

March 29th, 2024