New personalized medication might help fight cancer
WASHINGTON - 9news reports that a new type of personalized medication might be able to help cancer patients fight their disease more efficiently...
WASHINGTON — 9news reports that a new type of personalized medication might be able to help cancer patients fight their disease more efficiently. Keiona Clark has breast cancer, which she says runs in her family. She was diagnosed with the triple negative form, a type of cancer usually less responsive to treatments available today.
When she discovered that there was a clinical trial going on at Georgetown University Medical Center, she decided to join in. “I kind of felt like it was my duty because it runs in my family, and I’m always trying to find a better way for people who may go through this also,” Clark said.
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The trial is titled I-Spy, and is working on developing and testing whether or not a tumors DNA could help doctors determine which treatment a patient should undergo, basically helping them hone in on the cancer and give their patient the best chance at fighting it.
Oncologist Dr. Liu, who is in charge of the trial research, “It’s smarter…It’s the hope that we can avoid unnecessary side effects from drugs that don’t work and it’s also hoping to speed things up to get the right drug to the right patient.”
Clark is now undergoing chemo therapy, takes a pill twice a day, and receives regular MRI’s to monitor the cancer. The treatments have made her very tired, but the MRI’s show that her tumor is growing smaller.
