Immunotherapy (Monoclonal Antibodies for Cancer)
Immunotherapy is a promising new field of cancer research that is now beginning to produce new tools to fight and manage cancer. These treatments, which include monoclonal antibodies, that boost the body's own immune system to fight the disease or lessen its side effects by attacking cancer at the molecular or cellular level. Several immunotherapies have been approved by the FDA for specific cancers.
"As an oncologist myself, I know nothing is more important than giving patients and their doctors new ways to fight serious and life-threatening illnesses," said then FDA Acting Commissioner Michael A. Friedman, M.D., in the September 25, 1998 press release announcing the approval of Herceptin.
New Era Dawning: The foundation of modern oncology is built upon a trio of standard anti-cancer modalities: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Despite advances with these, many, if not most, advanced or metastatic malignancies are incurable. Over the years, researchers have been working on additional treatment options. One such option, known as immunotherapy, has until recently, been an elusive goal.
But a new era in cancer treatment is dawning. After years of frustrating research, scientists have been able to facilitate the development of immunotherapies, treatments that boost the body's own immune system to fight cancer by attacking it at the cellular and molecular levels. Immunotherapies, also referred to as biological response modifier therapies, can be divided into several broad categories:
- Nonspecific immunotherapies and adjuvants Active specific immunotherapies (cancer vaccines) Passive immunotherapies (monoclonal antibodies)
Originally available only in the small quantities produced by the body itself, biological response modifiers can now be manufactured in large quantities in laboratories. Different types of biological response modifiers include:
- Interferons
- Monoclonal antibodies
- Colony-stimulating factors
- Cancer vaccines
New Therapies: Several immunotherapies have been approved by the FDA for use against specific cancers, including: BCG, cytokines interferon-alpha and interlukin-2, and several monoclonal antibodies, such as rituximab (trade name Rituxan) for B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
In September 1998, FDA licensed a new treatment for metastatic breast cancer (cancer that has spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes under the arm). The intravenous product, trastuzumab (trade-name Herceptin), was approved for use alone for certain patients who have tried conventional chemotherapy with little success or as a first-line treatment for metastatic disease when used in combination with paclitaxel (trade-name Taxol).
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