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June 02, 2003
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
Breakthrough in Tailor-Made Medicines
Financial Times (www.ft.com)
(06/02/03) P. 26; Griffith, Victoria
Cancer vaccine group Antigenics has successfully
completed a clinical trial that researchers hope marks a real breakthrough for
personalized vaccines. While attending the annual meeting of the American
Society of Clinical Oncology, Antigenics presented the results from the trial,
which showed that personalized vaccines lowered cancer levels in patients when
paired with the leukemia drug Gleevac. According to Antigenics, cancer levels
were reduced in seven out of eight patients, and two of those went into complete
remission. Support in the medical community for tailor-made medicines has grown
in recent years as scientists have come to understand that there are many
subsets within diseases.
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-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
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"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
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