The long-suppressed concerns on the true effectiveness
of traditional cancer therapies have recently
more vocally voiced by the public, after some
clinical studies revealed that chemotherapy
led to shorter survival time for the cancer
patients (source: A Cancer Drug Under a Cloud,
Business Week online, May 5, 2004). Certainly
yellow flags are waved at the doctors, physicians,
drug suppliers and authorities (especially
FDA) though arguments between them are still
going on.
In contrast to traditional chemotherapy
(wherein doctors have to ensure poisoning
the cancer cell faster than they poison
the patient), recent therapies are based
on detailed information about each type
of cancer. The beauty of these therapies
is that they seem far less toxic than chemotherapy,
and they work by new mechanisms, often by
turning off signaling molecules that cancer
cells wrongly interpret as instructions
to grow.
A greater urge for bringing out more of
these targeted cancer therapies to the market
is anticipated, as is seen by ten more promising
experimental anti-cancer drugs being expected
to come on to the market in the very near
term (source: Cancer Drugs to Watch, Forbes.com,
April 29, 2004). Another reason for growing
demand for new cancer therapies is that
the oldest members of the baby-boom generation
(ages around 55-60) are reaching the point
when cancer rates start rising, and they
are the largest age group in the US population
(nearly 76 million people).
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