
The Problem with Miracle Cancer Cures - stmw
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/opinion/sunday/problem-miracle-cancer-cures.html
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AtlasBarfed
Immunotherapy is a fantastic promise, and really I think research is not being
fully supported by governments.

When my mom died of cancer, it always seemed the miracle cure was just a year
away. Several years later, it still does.

I know that the clinical studies are critical to the advancement of cancer
treatment, but the way studies are sold with an unspoken but really
nonexistent chance of helping people that are going to die is a bit unseemly.

As is the standard by which Keytruda and Opdivo use to get their medicare
$$$$: just add three months of life. The reward metric is skewed, and the goal
is pathetic, given that immunotherapy fundamentally promises a cure, not just
remission: the body hunts and kills the cancer on a level that even chemo
cannot do.

Substantial progress on life extension cannot really be done without solving
cancer as well.

