Hi Autumn, Before I get to excited, I am a little worried about what is replacing our chemo drugs and the cost of the new therapy. When ever a new medication comes out, the cost is often a crime against the pocket book of humanity.

There is a new medication out for hepatitis called Harvoni. Harvoni is getting advertised as a "cure" for hepatitis C. The cost is $95,000 and insurance seems to only cover people on their death beds. No one seems to benefit from Harvoni when the treatment could alleviate suffering earlier in the disease.

I like my current affordable meds. I will take a wait & see attitude until the price comes out. Thank you for giving us the heads up on the new medication. Let us know what the medication is called when you find out.

Autumn, I looked up the break through medications. These two medications are used together for melanoma:

ipilimumab - $30,000 per injection. $120,000 for a course of therapy.
Nivolumab - $143,000

Suffering alleviated?

Hi Trpt. There is always going to be a debate about costs at the beginning of any ground breaking treatment for disease. We have that debate here too even though all healthcare and drugs are free, very expensive drugs are looked at and there has to be a good reason for giving them. This is a completely new way to treat cancer and will turn medical economics on its head. Insurance companies there and NHS Committees here will have to evaluate the old against the new. For people who would other wise have died of cancer this is a new way forward, it may not be fir all but we must salute the research which brought it to the table. Think about Penicillan and what it did for TB and is still doing fighting infection all over the world. It too was a very expensive drug available to only a few at the beginning. We must be grateful for research. Autumm

Hi Autumn, I am thrilled about the new cancer medication breakthrough but I am not thrilled at the cost. I think the skyrocketing prices on new medications seems to be a fairly recent thing, like in the past twenty years. I do not know if Penicillin had the high cost when first created like new medications today. I will look into that information...
I do know that Penicillin showed up around 1918. The first chemoprophylaxis medication was called Salvarsan in 1915. Salvarsan was made to treat Syphilis. Believe it or not Salvarsan was given by IV and the ingredients of Salvarsan is arsenic trioxide. Salvarsan actually was effective in curing gangrene. Unfortunately today, the medical profession claims there is "no effective treatment for gangrene." I would like to know why Salvarsan is not used today if it was effective in 1915 for gangrene? Arsenic trioxide is very poisonous, but if it worked for gangrene, then it must have some merits. Penicillin was created and found not to have all the poisonous issues like Salvarsan. Anyway, so much for the history lesson! HA!

I am grateful for research. Maybe a good economy can bring down high prices?

Hi Trpt. Let us live in hope, sometimes it's all there is. Autumm