Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
Family photo courtesy of Sandrine Heute

Today’s good news story comes from the good news network.

Kinder than Chemo Cancer Drug Cured This Young Man of Leukemia–Available in the US

By Andy Corbley

Picture a very unhappy situation: you have leukemia; what are your options? Everyone knows about the side effects of chemo, and most people will have some idea about the Nobel Prize-winning CAR-T cell therapy—but there’s also a third option.

It seems startling to be so overlooked because it’s so straightforward. Blinatumomab cured the young fellow above of his B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The BBC reports that 20 medical centers in the UK are already using off-brand stocks of blinatumomab to treat this cancer, and the country has already approved the drug for adult use.

‘Blina,’ as it’s referred to for short, is also an immunotherapy drug; it seeks out and kills cancer cells that typically disguise themselves from the body’s innate immune system. However, unlike chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cell), blina is cheaper.

Blina is a kind of targeted therapy drug called a bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE). It’s administered via a pump and plastic bag through a tube inserted into the patient’s arm.

The bag is carried around in a slim backpack, and the supply lasts a few days. CAR-T cell therapy requires a patient’s cells to be taken out and modified to fight off whichever cancer is present—which takes time.

Like CAR-T, the healthy normal cells are not destroyed as in the case of chemotherapy, allowing the patient to continue leading a mostly normal life.

“Chemotherapies are poisons that kill the leukemic cells but also kill and damage normal cells—and that is what causes their side effects,” said chief investigator and consultant pediatric hematologist Professor Ajay Vora to the BBC. “Blinatumomab is a gentler, kinder treatment.”

Gentler on the body—not on the cancer. Arthur, now 11, was one of the first kids to receive the treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. His family got the word that his blood cancer was cured on New Year’s Eve.

Having started chemo years before, which both left him very weak and failed to kill the cancer, the family called Blina a “little ray of sunshine” and said that they celebrated the new year twice as hard.

On March 29th, 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to blinatumomab after successful trial results, though serious side effects were not uncommon. It’s available for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment.

The good news in this article is Cancer is still under attack, and new discoveries are making survival much more frequent. Today’s JohnKu talks about science. I hope you have a great weekend.

Discoveries by John W. Howell © 2024

The disease still kills,

But science still plods along . . .

Miracle life saves.

73 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF Fri-Yay/Good News”

  10. Wonderful story, John. Too many of us are touched by cancer either ourselves or by someone whom we know. Science is making progress and there are many success stories, as we know, but the fight continues. This young man benefited by a new drug that was less aggressive on his body and it was less expensive. A win-win. Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend!

    Liked by 3 people

  12. Thank you for sharing such good news, John! It’s good to know that the war on cancer is still active and winning battles. And in the case of this boy’s cancer, it was not a Pyrrhic victory.

    Liked by 2 people

  14. What a fabulous Fri-Yay post, John! I can’t imagine a better way for that family to start the New Year then with the news they received. I hope Blinatumomab is something that receives more attention and is made available to more people. Yay for science, and yay for miracles, too!

    Liked by 2 people

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