Jimmy Carter saved by jointly developed US-Israel cancer drug
Hamas-loving former US President Jimmy Carter is now cancer free thanks to a cancer drug developed by a joint US-Israeli team. This is from the first link.
Carter announced in August that he had been diagnosed with melanoma
that had spread to his brain and laid out a treatment plan, including a
round of targeted radiation at the brain tumors and doses of an
immune-boosting drug every three weeks. Keytruda, the drug, was approved
not long before Carter's announcement and helps his body seek out and
destroy cancer cells.
Carter's spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said in an email
that Carter received doses of the drug from August through February.
She said his doctors will continue to perform scans to ensure cancer
cells have not returned, and Carter will "resume treatment if
necessary."
A spokesman for Emory University's Winship Cancer
Institute, where Carter has been treated, declined to comment on Sunday,
citing patient privacy.
Medical experts have called Keytruda and similar
immune therapy drugs "game-changing" for patients with melanoma. But the
drugs are relatively new, and doctors are still learning about how they
should be used, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer
for the American Cancer Society. He is not involved in Carter's
treatment.
"Some people believe they should be continued as long
as a patient is doing well, some feel the drugs should continue for a
period of time and then be stopped," Lichtenfeld said. "This is clearly a
(decision) based on individual evidence specific to the president and
made with his doctors."
Carter will continue to receive doses of the drug every three weeks. Here's a story from 2014 on the development team.
"This medicine is a
miracle cure - it's a real breakthrough," says Prof. Jacob Schachter,
head of research and treatment of melanoma and skin cancer at Sheba
Medical Center, who is part of the international research team for the
medicine.
The new treatment comes
from the field of immunotherapy, which helps the immune system fight
cancer, unlike chemotherapy, which attacks the tumor itself. There are
various types of cancerous tumors, such as melanoma, that use a "shield"
to protect themselves from being identified by the immune system. The
new medicine paralyzes this type of screening mechanism, so the immune
system can recognize the cancer and attack it.
The results of the
international research suggest that using the medicine Pembrolizumab,
also known as MK-3475, yields impressive survival rates in patients with
advanced cancer, with 69 percent surviving one year and 63 percent
surviving 18 months.
Without this treatment, patients with metastatic melanoma die from
the disease within 4-5 months, after reaching stage four cancer. The
research tested 41,818 patients, 1,800 of them in Israel. The research
took place over a decade, while the clinical stage took four years.
The new medicine, which belongs to a new generation of biological
drugs, yielded extraordinary results to the point that the FDA approved
it for "compassionate use" (the use of an investigational drug outside a
clinical trial by patients with life-threatening conditions) and it
will be given for free to terminally ill patients. It is also be fast
tracked for approval, which is expected by October.
"One of my patients
who suffered metastatic melanoma in very critical condition entered the
trial, and within six weeks his body was completely clean of cancer,"
said Schachter. He stressed that because of the biological nature of the
drug; its side effects are minimal and allows patients optimal quality
of life.
Merck, the American company that developed the drug, has a department
in Israel called MSD, which operates a research division working in
tandem with medical centers in Israel.
"We are on our way to turn melanoma a treatable chronic disease,"
said Schachter. "We are also seeing positive results in other types of
cancer such as the urinary bladder, head neck and lungs". Prof. Alise
Reicin, who heads the American team that developed the drug, termed it
"definitely a breakthrough in the war against cancer".
Meanwhile, Carter's friends at Hamas are still working on a drug to create suicide bombers....
The Octava Pink test is now available in Israel and Italy, and is
undergoing clinical trials to receive US Food and Drug Administration
approval.
This is the first blood test ever that can reveal
cancer, not merely markers that might indicate cancer or something else.
Its innovation also lies in its examination of antibodies in the blood
to pinpoint this specific cancer.
Molecular biologist Galit
Yahalom — who heads the research team at the EventusDx offices and lab,
located in Moshav Ora outside of Jerusalem – explains the breakthrough
to ISRAEL21c.
“For the last decade, we have known that there is a
connection between cancer and the immune system,” says Yahalom, a
43-year-old mother of two from Modi’in who has been working on this
project since its inception.
“We know that it recognizes cancer as
an external enemy that must be destroyed. It is possible that each of
us has had instances of cancer we were unaware of, because our immune
systems killed it when it was still very small. For whatever reason, the
immune system of people with cancer is not functioning properly.”
...
Another innovation is the nanotechnology developed at EventusDx,
which enables testing 96 blood samples simultaneously. This process
takes no more than three hours, allowing a woman’s doctor to rule out or
confirm breast cancer very quickly.
Speed, of course, is as
important in breast-cancer detection as accuracy – not only for those
whose results confirm their physicians’ suspicions or diagnoses of
breast cancer, but also for those found to be cancer-free.
This is
because false positives and false negatives are frequent. According to
Yahalom, “Only 20 to 30 of every 100 biopsies performed as a result of
growths detected in mammograms reveal cancer; the rest are benign.
Meanwhile, 50% of young women with breast cancer, and 30% of older women
with breast cancer, are diagnosed as healthy.”
The Octava Pink
test has had astounding results, correctly diagnosing 95% of the healthy
women and 75% of those with breast cancer.
Though one in nine
women will contract breast cancer at some point in their lifetime, only
three in 1,000 have it at any given moment. This is why it is important
for women to get regular checkups and to be provided this extra tool to
assuage their fears.
This particular tool costs NIS 700 (about
$200), not including the fee charged by the doctor who purchases the
Octava kit and sends it to Yahalom’s lab.
By the time you all read this, I will be airborne once again, on my way to my next destination... Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
I don't usually post appeals for money on this blog, but since both the patient and the people who asked me to post this are old friends, I decided to post it.
Anyone who can is asked to please help out with Bambi's (yes, that's really her name) medical expenses.
Only in Israel: Plane turns back to get cancer patient
I don't believe this could have happened anywhere other than the Jewish state.
An 11-year old fighting cancer was traveling to New York for a summer camp run by Chai Lifeline, a group that has been encouraging cancer patients to fight for their lives for the last 20 years. The girl's passport was misplaced and she had to get off the plane. Then, the passport was found.
The plane almost reached the runway when the
call went out that Inbar’s passport had been found in another child’s
backpack. The flight attendants immediately told the pilots, who spent
the next 15 minutes calling the control tower, ground crew, and El Al’s
offices.
The plane sat for a half hour, as the pilots awaited a decision.
Finally, they turned the plane around, and drove back to the terminal to pick up young Inbar.
“Her dream came true!” wrote Pinsky. ”Those of
us on the plane experienced something as well. Instead of the hostility
that usually greets a plane delay, there were cheers and tears on that
El Al plane, flight 007. Passengers and crew shared Inbar’s happiness
and excitement.”
“Planes rarely return to the gate after
departing,” said El Al in a statement. “The plane was on its way to the
runway, when the passport was found on the plane. After consulting with
El Al crew on the plane and El Al staff at the airport the decision was
made and the plane returned to pick up Inbar. El Al was honored and
proud to help Inbar’s dream to go to the camp in the USA come true. We
wish Inbar full recovery and health.”
Refuah Shleima - a full and speedy recovery - to Inbar and to all of the children!
Get out the tissues: Camp Simcha storms Times Square
Please forgive me, but I have a real soft spot for this sort of thing, even if I do have to silence the music.
Camp Simcha campers and staff stormed the bleachers at the crossroads of
the world for an inspirational "Wall of Fame" musical performance under
the bright lights of Broadway.
Several dozen sites belonging to Israeli NGOs have been damaged, the
web vandals claimed, including that of Larger than Life, and NGO for
children with cancer.
"The website of Larger than Life has been under attack from
pro-Palestinian hackers for a week," Larger than Life wrote on its
Facebook page Thursday, "and every day they take down our site and plant
different content – flags, a skull, symbols and all sorts of
hate-related things."
"It is too bad that this is happening,
of all places, to a website for an organization whose purpose is one of
love, and assistance to every cancer stricken child under treatment in
Israel, without differentiating on the basis of religion, race or
nationality."
These bullies should pick on someone their own size.
Israeli researchers develop cancer vaccine, world yawns
Here's hoping that the BDS'ers will at least have the intellectual honesty to boycott this one too. Israeli researchers have come up with a vaccine - it's still being tested - that fights off certain common kinds of cancers (Hat Tip: Tundra Tabloids).
Scientists have, however, found that a molecule called MUC1, which is found in high amounts on the surface of cancer cells, can be used to help the immune system detect tumours.
The new vaccine, developed by drug company Vaxil Biotheraputics along with researchers at Tel Aviv University, uses a small section of the molecule to prime the immune system so that it can identify and destroy cancer cells.
A statement from Vaxil Biotheraputics said: "ImMucin generated a robust and specific immune response in all patients which was observed after only 2-4 doses of the vaccine out of a maximum of 12 doses.
"In some of the patients, preliminary signs of clinical efficacy were observed."
The results are still to be formally published but if further trials prove to be successful the vaccine could be available within six years.
As a therapeutic vaccine it is designed to be given to patients who are already suffering from cancer to help their bodies fight off the disease rather than to prevent disease in the first place.
Cancer cells contain high levels of MUC1 as it is thought to be involved helping tumours grow. Healthy human cells also contain MUC1, but have levels that are too low to trigger the immune system after vaccination.
When a vaccinated patient's immune system encounters cancer cells, however, the far larger concentration of MUC1 causes it to attack and kill the tumour.
As MUC1 is found in 90 per cent of all cancers, the researchers believe it could be used to combat the growth and spread of a wide range of cancers.
In a safety trial at the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, ten patients suffering from multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, have now received the vaccine.
Seven of the patients have now finished the treatment and Vaxil reported that all of them had greater immunity against cancer cells compared to before they were given the vaccine.
Vaxil added that three patients are now free of detectable cancer following the treatment.
Vaxil was founded in late 2006 by an experienced management team supported by leading scientists and clinicians. It is headquartered at the Weizmann Science Park, Nes –Ziona, Israel.
So why isn't this getting more publicity? Hmmm.
I hope the BDS'ers will boycott it. Darwin would call that selection. Heh.
I wonder why Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez thinks that American President Obama doesn't love him anymore. Chavez is accusing the United States of causing Latin American leaders - including himself and Argentinian President Cristina Kirshner - to contract cancer.
Although he said he did not want to make "reckless" accusations, President Hugo Chávez on Wednesday hinted that the cancer that he and four other Latin American presidents have suffered or are suffering may have been caused by a "technology developed by the United States."
"It seems very strange that cancer has hit (Paraguayan President Fernando) Lugo, (Brazilian President) Dilma (Rousseff), then me, and within a few days (Brazilian former president Luis Inácio) Lula (da Silva), and now (Argentinean President) Cristina (Fernández de Kirchner)," Chávez said at the ceremony of Christmas and New Year salutation to the Armed Forces. "It would be hardly surprising that they have developed a technology to induce cancer and that it is known only 50 years later."
Venezuela's Head of State based his suspicions on the tests and experiments with chemical weapons that the US Army secretly conducted in Guatemala in the fifties.
Finally, Chávez asked his counterparts in Ecuador and Bolivia, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales, respectively, to take care of their health.
In a breakthrough development, the Israeli company Vaxil BioTherapeutics has formulated a therapeutic cancer vaccine, now in clinical trials at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. If all goes well, the vaccine could be available about six years down the road, to administer on a regular basis not only to help treat cancer but in order to keep the disease from recurring.
The vaccine is being tested against a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. If the substance works as hoped — and it looks like all arrows are pointing that way — its platform technology VaxHit could be applied to 90 percent of all known cancers, including prostate and breast cancer, solid and non-solid tumors.
“In cancer, the body knows something is not quite right but the immune system doesn’t know how to protect itself against the tumor like it does against an infection or virus. This is because cancer cells are the body’s own cells gone wrong,” says Julian Levy, the company’s CFO. “Coupled with that, a cancer patient has a depressed immune system, caused both by the illness and by the treatment.”
The trick is to activate a compromised immune system to mobilize against the threat.
A traditional vaccine helps the body’s immune system fend off foreign invaders such as bacteria or viruses, and is administered to people who have not yet had the ailment. Therapeutic vaccines, like the one Vaxil has developed, are given to sick people, and work more like a drug.
Vaxil’s lead product, ImMucin, activates the immune system by “training” T-cells –– the immune cells that protect the body by searching out and destroying cells that display a specific molecule (or marker) called MUC1. MUC1 is typically found only on cancer cells and not on healthy cells. The T-cells don’t attack any cells without MUC1, meaning there are no side effects unlike traditional cancer treatments. More than 90% of different cancers have MUC1 on their cells, which indicates the potential for this vaccine.
“It’s a really big thing,” says Levy, a biotechnology entrepreneur who was formerly CEO for Biokine Therapeutics. “If you give chemo, apart from the really nasty side effects, what often happens is that cancer becomes immune [to it]. The tumor likes to mutate and develops an ability to hide from the treatment. Our vaccines are also designed to overcome that problem.”
For cancers in an advanced stage, treatments like chemo or surgery to remove a large tumor will still be needed, but if the cancer can be brought down to scale, the body is then able to deal with it, Levy explains. ImMucin is foreseen as a long-term strategy — a shot every few months, with no side effects — to stop the cancer from reoccurring after initial treatments, by ensuring that the patient’s own immune system keeps it under control.
In parallel, the company is also working on a vaccine that treats tuberculosis, a disease that’s increasing worldwide, including in the developed world, and for which the current vaccine is often ineffective and treatment is problematic.
At this rate, maybe an Israeli will cure the common cold too. Man those Jews are smart.
This post is being written live. I am still awake at 3:00 am. I've decided to write this post, which will be highly critical of the 'system' here in Israel, in the hope of embarrassing the State of Israel enough to change it. None of the Israelis will be surprised by this story - we all know that these things happen. But I think that those of you abroad will be appalled.
A bit after 2:00 am my phone rang. Even I don't normally get calls on my Israeli phone at 2:00 am. The caller was a friend who was supposed to leave for the US tonight. He was stuck at the airport.
No, the weather here is fine. There are no wars or earthquakes. No tornadoes, hurricanes or snowstorms. My friend had an order against him (which was taken out ex-parte - without him being present) that forbids him from leaving the country. No, he didn't commit a crime. He owed someone money - about NIS 6,300 (probably $1700 or so at today's exchange rates).
My friend's son had paid the money on his father's behalf earlier today. The problem is that the son paid the money by credit card and all he had was a confirmation number. No receipt. Not that the authorities would have accepted a receipt anyway. I spoke to the authorities. The woman from the Interior Ministry told me that she had already tried taking the story to her superiors, but to no avail. They would only accept one of two things: (Another) NIS 6,300 in cash or an original written order canceling the order that forbids my friend from leaving the country. The ATM's here don't release more than NIS 2,500 at a pop. Where would anyone get that kind of money in cash at this hour of the night? The last I heard, there was a collection being taken up in the town where two of my friend's daughters live, which is close to the airport. If they get enough money, someone will get into a taxi and take it to the airport. If the plane doesn't leave first.
You see - and no, I am not making this up and it isn't an appeal for money which couldn't get here in time anyway - my friend doesn't live in Israel. He moved back to the States about four years ago because his daughter was undergoing chemotherapy there. His daughter passed away six months ago. While his daughter was in chemotherapy, my friend discovered that he too had the dreaded disease, God save him. And now he's undergoing treatment. He came here for a few days to see his children and grandchildren who live here (most of his children and all of his grandchildren live here) between rounds.
My friend spent last night in an Israeli hospital with low blood counts and a fever. And he's supposed to be in the US Thursday morning for another round of chemotherapy. So the Israelis are being really nice to him: They have held up an entire 747 for three hours to give him the opportunity to come up with the money or the cancellation order. Yes, really. I will bet that none of the people on that plane know why they're spending the entire night sitting on the runway - and if they did, they'd probably take up a collection and pay my the stupid NIS 6,300. But they have no idea.
I even tried calling the after-hours emergency number at the American embassy. I spoke to a lovely young lady who told me that there is probably nothing they can do to help my friend get out of the country, although they can make sure he gets the medical care he needs while he is here.
Our rabbis tell us that Jews are supposed to be merciful, bashful and doers of good deeds. Sometimes, this country just doesn't get it.
Video: This is Zionism: IDF soldiers give 'Palestinian' cancer patients a day of fun
I wrote once before about the IDF's alpine unit taking 'Palestinian' cancer patients to the Hermon here. Now you have it on video (really a slide show).
Cruel IDF soldiers take 'Palestinian' kids with cancer to Mount Hermon and... play with them in the snow
Those mean, cruel IDF soldiers you've all heard about took a group of 'Palestinian' kids who are suffering from cancer (God save us) and their families to Mount Hermon for a day of frolicking in the snow.
The day was part of a decade-long project in which soldiers bring up groups of mentally or physically disabled children, as well as children with terminal illnesses, to Mt. Hermon for a day of fun and relaxation. The number of visits varies according to the snowfall each year, but on average amounts to 40-45 annual visits. The project is funded by the Erez Organization, a non-profit organization which consists of reserve soldiers of the Alpine Unit.
The trip was also made possible by the Civil Administration, the Israeli body responsible for administering and coordinating civilian and humanitarian needs in the West Bank. Dalia Bassa, Health and Welfare Coordinator in the CA, coordinated last week’s trip for twenty children from the Augusta Victoria Hospital’s Oncology Ward who, along with their families and six of the hospital’s medical staff, joined the soldiers in the snow.
“It’s a day of fun which helps these children deal with their illness,” she said, adding that groups of Palestinian kids go to Mt. Hermon every year and that “the families call annually to remind me of the coming snowfall”.
But give them a 'state' instead and see if the 'Palestinian Authority' bothers to do anything for these kids. In eighteen years in charge, they haven't even built them a hospital. Most of them are treated in Israel.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
