More advanced therapies being aimed at cancer

Associated Press

CHICAGO

New research shows a sharp escalation in the weapons race against cancer, with several high-tech approaches long dreamed of but not possible or successful until now.

At a weekend conference of more than 30,000 cancer specialists, scientists reported:

New “smart” drugs that deliver powerful poisons directly to cancer cells while leaving healthy ones alone.

A new tool that helps the immune system attack a broad range of cancer types.

Treatments aimed at new genes and cancer pathways, plus better tests to predict which patients will benefit from them.

“I see major advances being made in big diseases” such as breast and prostate cancers, said Dr. Richard Pazdur, cancer-drug chief at the federal Food and Drug Administration.

The field continues to move toward more precise treatments with fewer side effects and away from old-style chemotherapy that was “like dropping a bomb on the body,” he said.

In fact, an emerging class of “smart bombs” was one of the most hopeful developments reported at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Dozens of “smart bomb” drugs are in development. Today, Pfizer Inc. plans to report on one it is testing for certain types of lymphoma and leukemia. Only one such drug is on the market now — Adcetris, sold by Seattle Genetics Inc. for some less common types of lymphoma.

The other big news at the conference involved a different approach: using the immune system to fight cancer. For more than a century, doctors have been trying to harness its power.