Immunotherapy in clinical trial takes one-third of patients from hopelessness to a potential cure

Despite multiple myeloma having been considered incurable, a third of patients in a clinical trial have lived without detectable cancer for five years.

Patients in the trial conducted by Johnson & Johnson researchers had been facing "certain, and extremely painful, death within a year," according to a story by Gina Kolata in yesterday's editions of The New York Times.

But after five years, the immunotherapy developed by Legend Biotech, a company founded in China, seems to have made the cancer disappear in a third of the patients — "a result never before seen in this disease."

Dr. Norman Sharpless

"In my 30 years in oncology, we haven't talked about curing myeloma," the Times quoted Dr. Norman Sharpless," professor of cancer policy and innovation at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and a former director of the National Cancer Institute. "This is the first time we are really talking seriously about cure in one of the worst malignancies imaginable."

The study by Johnson & Johnson, which has an exclusive licensing agreement with Legend Biotech, was published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology and reported yesterday at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

"The Legend immunotherapy is a type known as CAR-T," Kolata's article explains. "It is delivered as an infusion of the patient’s own white blood cells that have been removed and engineered to attack the cancer. The treatment has revolutionized prospects for patients with other types of blood cancer, like leukemia."

Treatments for multiple myeloma are extremely costly. They can run more than $100,000 —  "hideously expensive," according to Dr. Carl June of the University of Pennsylvania. Total cost over the years can be millions of dollars, usually paid by insurers, "and it doesn't even cure you," he told the Times.

Thirty-six thousand Americans each year develop the deadly blood disease, which eats away at bones so it looks as though holes have been punched out in them, elaborates June. Bones can collapse. 

"It's a horrible, horrible death," says June.

More information on clinical trials can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Find out more on my blog, https://woodyweingarten.com.

Biden and his allies are 'very optimistic' about his ability to beat metastasized prostate cancer

Former President Joe Biden

Former President Joe Biden and those around him appear to be sanguine about his being able to whip his metastasized prostate cancer — even though there is no cure.

Looking forward to his recovery, he specifically told reporters last week that "we're going to be able to beat this."

According to an online story by Sebastian Murdock in the HuffPost, he also said, "The prognosis is good. We're working on everything. It's moving along, and I feel good. All the folks are very optimistic."

Earlier last month the 82-year-old was diagnosed with the Stage 4 cancer that had metastasized to the bone. Biden's office admitted it was "a more aggressive form of the disease."

In a chat with reporters at his home, Biden said, "The expectation is we're going to be able to beat this...It's not in any organ, my bones are strong."

The New York Times earlier had quoted Dr. Judd Moul, a prostate cancer expect at Duke University, as saying that men whose prostate cancer had metastasized "can live five, seven, 10 more years." 

He noted that "survival rates have almost tripled in the last decade."

More information on metastasis can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Check out my website, https://woodyweingarten.com/.