Scientists are hailing promising breakthroughs in the fight against cancer, with one new therapy appearing to kill tumors without damaging healthy flesh.
Novartis’s radioligand therapy targets mutations in tumors, delivering radiation only where it is needed, unlike ordinary radiotherapy which kills non-cancerous cells as well as cancerous ones. In a trial, the Novartis treatment removed all disease from 21% of patients whose cancers had spread around the body, which an oncologist told The New York Times was “never seen before.”
In other progress in the fight against cancer, The Economist reported that scientists are attempting to prevent the disease by boosting the metabolism of non-cancerous cells so they grow faster, “levelling the arms race between unhealthy and healthy cells.”
