Because lung cancer is the most deadly type of cancer and we don’t stand much of a chance if it’s diagnosed late.
A couple studies unveiled at the American Society of Clinical Oncology found that treatments that stop cancer from blocking the immune system were very effective in helping patients with advanced lung cancer live longer.
Besides radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, immunotherapy is emerging as the most promising cancer treatment, according to a report by Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post. And its potential got a big boost Friday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology when researchers presented outcomes of an immunotherapy drug called Nivolumab.
Trials on 582 people who had advanced lung cancer and had already tried other treatments showed that those who took the drug lived longer than those on chemotherapy and saw a 27 percent smaller chance of death.
"[The results] mark a milestone in the development of new treatment options for lung cancer,” said head researcher Dr. Luis Paz-Ares to BBC News.
We really do need a way to fight back against lung cancer (besides obviously stomping on your cigarette pack and never taking another puff). Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and over 1.6 million people will be diagnosed with it this year. It’s time to take it down off its deadly pedestal.
How about some more good news? Lung cancer isn’t the only cancer immunotherapy can fight off. Along with Nivolumab, two other immunotherapy drugs approved by The Food and Drug Administration are being used to treatment melanoma skin cancer.
However, there are still some problems. These therapies are currently insanely expensive, drugs can cost $10,000 or more per WaPo, and we don’t know what modifying our immune system will do to us in the future. Still, the future is promising; unless you’re a lung cancer cell, that is.
Ask The Big Question: Can we afford to progress when the price of each dose is so insanely high?
Disrupt Your Feed: It’s 2015. Why won’t people just ditch cigarettes already?
Drop This Fact: 158,040 Americans are expected to die from lung cancer in 2015, according to the American Lung Association.