NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — June is Cancer Immunotherapy Month.
Immunotherapy drugs have been on the market for more than a decade. Dr. David Spigel is a medical oncologist at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute. He says the idea is simple. Use our body's immune system to attack cancer.
There are 20 kinds of clinical setting for patients diagnosed with cancer where immunotherapies are the standard form of treatment.
New therapies start with clinical trials. It also offers patients an opportunity to get something innovative that could be years before hitting the market. Then hopefully down the line, that therapy could help more people in the world. You can find more information at cancercarescri.com.
Dr. Spigel attended the American Society of Clinical Oncology Conference along with thousands of other medical oncologists. Thousands of groundbreaking research from around the world are presented.
Studies on early stages of cancers and immunotherapy were among the most notable.
Dr. Spigel says, "Could these therapies be applied to people who have early-stage cancer? That's what we saw this year. If you add immunotherapy to traditional ways of treating, say, early-stage colon cancer, stomach cancer or head neck cancer, there are dramatic improvements in how patients do. Those are groundbreaking advances that are changing how patients get their care."
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