Essay: ‘Living Drug’ Gets Green Light

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

The FDA approves a powerful gene therapy to fight a resistant cancer.

Immunotherapy, the hottest field in cancer research, seeks to supercharge the body’s natural defenses against deadly tumors. Two different approaches are driving the buzz, and one of them got a big boost in August when the Food and Drug Administration approved a “living drug” to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children and young adults who’ve stopped responding to chemotherapy. The product, dubbed tisagenlecleucel (pronounced tis-a-gen-LEK-loo-sell), is the f…

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