Wow, more than 40 people have undergone a CAR-T-cell therapy for lupus, most of whom have gone into drug-free remission. “It is too early to declare any of these patients cured for life, but that now seems within the realm of possibility.”
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Discussion 4 comments
I was diagnosed with Lupus in 2007. It is difficult to put into words how encouraging these breakthroughs are. I didn’t expect Kottke to make me cry at the start of the day.
You heard there's an FDA-approved treatment for sickle-cell anemia, right? So far 28/29 people are symptom free as a result and more will be cured now that it's approved. And don't forget, with COVID we went from 'oh no there's a new virus' to an effective vaccine in 11 months. The evil drug companies do come up with stuff quickly.
I first learned about CAR-T therapy while my MIL was in treatment for blood cancer, and tragically it was not a magic solution for her. Even with this result for us, learning about CAR-T did fill me with generalized hope for future treatments and other families. Exciting to see it applied in more situations!
I practice hematology and oncology.
The science here is truly amazing.
But the costs associated with these sorts of treatments are such a huge issue. Think the average sticker price for CAR-T for blood cancer is somewhere in the realm of a million bucks a pop.
And it has been nearly impossible to administer the breakthrough therapy for sickle cell referenced in the comments because the costs associated are so high that most hospital systems and insurance plans are not touching it.
I'm definitely not a health care economist, but I know finding a way to make these options affordable and accessible to real humans is a parallel challenge to the initial scientific questions.
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