MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Because it doesn't involve sex, winning the lottery, the latest reality television star, or someone else's misfortune.

1. This type of story happens about once every 2 weeks. The internet has irradiated cancer many times.

2. Universal =/= 90%...semantics I know...but it doesn't.

My dad developed bladder cancer this year because of that drug Actose. They make drugs that give you cancer, maybe they can find something that cures it.

Not only would a "cure" for cancer have to go through years of clinical testing, but the feasibility of an actual vaccine are so minimal that every time potential treatments are found, there is often very little excitement.

Cancer is highly variant to the point that physicians often can not explain a lot of what is going on in terms of the molecular pathways and genetic components that are being effectively hijacked. If there even was any potential for a universal "cure", which is highly unlikely due to the extreme variance between any two cancers, there would assuredly be a great deal of side effects that could likely make the drug clinically irrelevant.

Not trying to be a downer, but if anything at all, years of studying medicine teaches you to temper expectations specifically in regard to the future of cancer treatment.

This is what I'm wondering. What are the side effects to this vaccine? It's like saying "here you go, a vaccine that prevents 90% of all cancers, but oh yeah, it carries with it side effects of incontinence, liver failure, heart attacks, anal leakage, early onset of alzheimer's... and so on."

Admittedly, I didn't read the article, but based on your description it sounds similar to Provenge an immunotherapy for prostate cancer. It's not a classical vaccine that you take to prevent something, but does "turn on" the immune system to fight the cancer.

It's all fine and dandy until your body starts attacking some healthy cells that you need, which could be very possible with this vaccine.

FWIW, I won't even consider this to be legitimate until the pharmaceutical company that is developing this vaccine has a wikipedia page. Could easily be a scam.

apparently we have a lot of pharaceutical reps on the board

there won't ever be a cure for cancer because there is too much money to made off of people getting and having cancer

ahhh yes...the old "The FDA is the puppet of big pharma". What the FDA does do, to the best of it's ability, is make sure that drugs that are approved have met rigorous safety and efficacy standards. If this guy's treatment is so great, his company or his molecule would have been acquired by big pharma for commercialization. That's how things work. In many cases, small biotechs develop the initial molecule and take it through phase I trials. Those that do well and are promising are acquired by bigger companies, who have the resources to get it through larger scale trials (phase III trials are VERY expensive). Those companies molecules that do not do well often go under. I've been in the industry for 10 years, and my current Client was recently acquired by Pfizer, so I know how things work a little.

We were actually doing some work with Dendreon before Provenge was approved.

That all sounds very reassuring to someone who has three months to live. I bet they sure are glad the FDA is looking out for them.

I'm all for an industry safety board (though I doubt handling it in a federal capacity is the most effective way to go about it), but when you have someone diagnosed with a terminal condition...that's when you throw the rules out and allow the patient to decide for themselves the best course of action; whether that means chemo, an untested cancer drug, some natural treatment in Argentina, or just letting nature take its course.

Bingo.

And the methods set up by the FDA prevents snake oil salesman from practicing voodoo medicine that prays on the desperate.