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Cancer therapy approved by FDA uses body’s own cells as a ‘living drug’


A new therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration supercharges the body’s immune system to kill a kind of skin cancer, opening the door to targeting more common tumors.

After undergoing surgery, radiation and three different therapies, Scott Goedeke faced a tough reality: The cancer that first surfaced on the roof of his mouth had spread to a lymph node in his neck. “The concept that theFDA has now acknowledged is that you can use a patient’s own cells as a living drug to treat their disease, and that to me is a very exciting step forward,” said Steve Rosenberg, a senior investigator for the National Cancer Institute who has helped pioneer the newly approved therapy since the 1980s. The FDA action is also a signal to the pharmaceutical industry that there is a commercial path to success, said Jason Bock, chief executive of CTMC, a company spun out of MD Anderson Cancer Center that contracts with biotech firms to help manufacture cell therapies.

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