Gene therapy, in spite of its extreme promise in ridding mankind of many diseases, finds a lot of opponents. But it is gratifying that even now, when this method is, in fact, at the beginning of its path, there are those who are not afraid of the future and allow the new technology to extend the lives of people.
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), may be one such pioneer. The FDA, according to the Associated Press, has approved a new type of treatment for leukemia in children, based on the mechanisms of genetic engineering
According to the publisher, the new therapy is called CAR-T. Its essence lies in the fact that after a series of modifications, the patient's own blood cells begin to attack cancerous tumors. For this method, researchers take blood cells from a patient, reprogram them to fight disease cells, and create millions of copies of them. The cells are then returned to the body, where they fight the disease for several months or even years. According to FDA spokesman Scott Gottlieb, “We are entering a new phase in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram our own cells to attack deadly cancer. Treatment with CAR-T will cost $ 475,000, but Novartis Pharmaceuticals is committed not to charge patients."
It is worth saying that the gene therapy market has every chance of explosive growth in the next decade. The FDA has approved the use of gene therapy for patients aged 3 to 25 years with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Many have already dubbed this gesture "a step into the medicine of the future."
Vladimir Kuznetsov