Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later.
Scientists should probably caution that more research is needed.
But to clarify, it’s n=16. Half of those who received the treatment responded and started producing immune cells. Six years later 7 of the 8 who responded are still alive, while only 2 of the 8 who didn’t respond are alive. This is one of the deadliest cancers, so having 9 out of 16 still alive after 6 years is an incredible success. More work is needed to find out why half didn’t respond, but going from a 13% survivability rate to 56% is a pretty great result for an early trial.
Scientists should probably caution that more research is needed.
But to clarify, it’s n=16. Half of those who received the treatment responded and started producing immune cells. Six years later 7 of the 8 who responded are still alive, while only 2 of the 8 who didn’t respond are alive. This is one of the deadliest cancers, so having 9 out of 16 still alive after 6 years is an incredible success. More work is needed to find out why half didn’t respond, but going from a 13% survivability rate to 56% is a pretty great result for an early trial.