Cancer - good news of a cure at last

Hitchens · 16-02-2016 08:08PM #1

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35586834

This is brilliant news and hopefully it's the truth. It seems to have reached epidemic proportions here in Ireland.

Elessar · 16-02-2016 08:14PM

Another day another cure for cancer. Until one of these new successful treatments are widely available for people, I'm not holding my breath.

gutenberg · 16-02-2016 08:14PM

Hitchens wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35586834

This is brilliant news and hopefully it's the truth. It seems to have reached epidemic proportions here in Ireland.

It's undoubtedly exciting, but reading the full article, it also mentions that seven patients developed extreme reactions to the therapy that required stints in intensive care, while two patients actually died from an extreme immune system reaction

So yes, very exciting but undoubtedly still tons more research, testing etc. is required.

IvyTheTerrible · 16-02-2016 08:16PM

The headline makes it seem like it's for all cancers but it's just a possible cure for one type.
There are many many types of cancer and talking about "a cure for cancer" is oversimplification in the extreme.

Ally Dick · 16-02-2016 08:16PM

And then some greedy b@stard buys the patent and makes it too dear for the ordinary person to be able to afford

SEPT 23 1989 · 16-02-2016 08:18PM

It's looking like the children born today will never die of this horrible disease and there will be a simple vaccination to prevent it

AndyBoBandy · 16-02-2016 08:20PM

Ally Dick wrote: »

And then some greedy b@stard buys the patent and makes it too dear for the ordinary person to be able to afford

The pharmaceutical industry in a nutshell.

"why cure with 1 pill, when we can treat for a lifetime with many pills"

kneemos · 16-02-2016 08:20PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

It's looking like the children born today will never die of this horrible disease and there will be a simple vaccination to prevent it

Not really.

Junkyard Tom · 16-02-2016 08:21PM

It's a breakthrough rather than a cure. The piece you've linked to doesn't mention cure once.

PARlance · 16-02-2016 08:21PM

kneemos wrote: »

Not really.

It would be very harsh on the children born yesterday and tomorrow anyway.

gctest50 · 16-02-2016 08:22PM

gutenberg wrote: »

It's undoubtedly exciting, but reading the full article, it also mentions that seven patients developed extreme reactions to the therapy that required stints in intensive care, while two patients actually died from an extreme immune system reaction So yes, very exciting but undoubtedly still tons more research, testing etc. is required.

missed this bit :

The lead scientist, Prof Stanley Riddell from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, said all other treatments had failed in these patients and they had only two-to-five months to live.

KungPao · 16-02-2016 08:27PM

Huge money in sickness, terminal illness, and death. I bet any cure would be eye-wateringly expensive...even if it was just a few injections or pills. They certainly wouldn't be dishing it out willy nilly.

Probably never hear about this again anyway. Like when you hear about advances in finding a cure for baldness...then poof, nothing.

Eugene Norman · 16-02-2016 08:27PM

gutenberg wrote: »

It's undoubtedly exciting, but reading the full article, it also mentions that seven patients developed extreme reactions to the therapy that required stints in intensive care, while two patients actually died from an extreme immune system reaction So yes, very exciting but undoubtedly still tons more research, testing etc. is required.

Well if the 5 who survived the extreme immune reaction got cured I'd take those odds. Sure use this for now on patients where all else has failed but worth using it.

wakka12 · 16-02-2016 08:27PM

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

The headline makes it seem like it's for all cancers but it's just a possible cure for one type.
There are many many types of cancer and talking about "a cure for cancer" is oversimplification in the extreme.

Well it said it seemed effective in blood cancers. Im sure a lot of types fall under that term.
Anyway seems a bit too good to be true, but lets hope.

wakka12 · 16-02-2016 08:28PM

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

It's a breakthrough rather than a cure. The piece you've linked to doesn't mention cure once.

'symptoms vanished' how is that not a cure?

tomwaterford · 16-02-2016 08:29PM

I really hope it's true

galljga1 · 16-02-2016 08:30PM

KungPao wrote: »

Huge money in sickness, terminal illness, and death. I bet any cure would be eye-wateringly expensive...even if it was just a few injections or pills. They certainly wouldn't be dishing it out willy nilly.

Probably never hear about this again anyway. Like when you hear about advances in finding a cure for baldness...then poof, nothing.

I lost my wife to cancer. I am also bald. Guess which cure I want advanced.

wakka12 · 16-02-2016 08:31PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

It's looking like the children born today will never die of this horrible disease and there will be a simple vaccination to prevent it

New diseases will always emerge. Im sure people would have said that back when TB was killing children but now look at all the new diseases we have that still kill many children.

Eugene Norman · 16-02-2016 08:31PM

This is the only way that cancer will really be stopped, reprogramming your immune system to target the cells. This is what has been promised for a while and hopefully this will be the start of the end for the big C.

wakka12 · 16-02-2016 08:32PM

galljga1 wrote: »

I lost my wife to cancer. I am also bald. Guess which cure I want advanced.

? I don't think he was saying that theyre in anyway comparable on scale of suffering, just that both are things that are regularly reported to have been cured but then it turns out not to be true

Eugene Norman · 16-02-2016 08:33PM

wakka12 wrote: »

New diseases will always emerge. Im sure people would have said that back when TB was killing children but now look at all the new diseases we have that still kill many children.

I'm pretty sure that child mortality has dropped significantly. All the same.

zl1whqvjs75cdy · 16-02-2016 08:33PM

Ally Dick wrote: »

And then some greedy b@stard buys the patent and makes it too dear for the ordinary person to be able to afford

Are you gonna pay for the massive production and regulatory costs then?

endacl · 16-02-2016 08:34PM

Ally Dick wrote: »

And then some greedy b@stard buys the patent and makes it too dear for the ordinary person to be able to afford

Or a company invests millions of investors' cash, without which the gene splicing technologies such as CRISPR would never have been developed. They don't patent something which doesn't exist. They put a lot of time,cash and effort into developing technologies that wouldn't exist if they didn't invest time, cash and effort. They create the patents.

tomwaterford · 16-02-2016 08:34PM

galljga1 wrote: »

I lost my wife to cancer. I am also bald. Guess which cure I want advanced.

I'm sorry to hear this (about your wife)...it would be great if twud stop even one person from dying

Eugene Norman · 16-02-2016 08:34PM

wakka12 wrote: »

? I don't think he was saying that theyre in anyway comparable on scale of suffering, just that both are things that are regularly reported to have been cured but then it turns out not to be true

Yeh but the bald "cures" aren't really by scientists. Not the snake oil pills anyway. Hair replacement does work - see Rooney.

Hitchens · 16-02-2016 08:35PM

a friend died recently from that bastard of a disease and this would have given him a lift to read about this, and he would have volunteered to try it if he'd been offered the chance, and who in that position wouldn't

Eugene Norman · 16-02-2016 08:36PM

endacl wrote: »

Or a company invests millions of investors' cash, without which the gene splicing technologies such as CRISPR would never have been developed. They don't patent something which doesn't exist. They put a lot of time,cash and effort into developing technologies that wouldn't exist if they didn't invest time, cash and effort. They create the patents.

That company/clinic is partly (or mostly) funded by the us government. Governments can always buy the patents and give billions to the company that discovers the cure.

Maximus Alexander · 16-02-2016 08:37PM

Any additional weapon in the anti-cancer arsenal should be welcomed. People just need to stop expecting a single, magical cure for all cancers.

TallGlass · 16-02-2016 08:40PM

Always good news to hear, as with everything, it can only lead to greater things.

Computers where expensive when first developed now there cheap as chips. It's all steps to a bigger goal in the end.

Sadly when people are in a critical state, time is not on there side.

I'm sure by my time comes, there will be a new bug wanting to kill me off and time won't be on my side.

galljga1 · 16-02-2016 08:40PM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Yeh but the bald "cures" aren't really by scientists. Not the snake oil pills anyway. Hair replacement does work - see Rooney.

True Eugene, but believe it or not there are also a lot of snake oil merchants out there willing to take advantage of desperate cancer patients.It beggars belief how they can do this.

kneemos · 16-02-2016 08:46PM

wakka12 wrote: »

'symptoms vanished' how is that not a cure?

Might come back.

Cancer - good news of a cure at last

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