CANCER STUDY- Science takes another look at why some got well

The National Institutes of Health said it better about drug studies than I did:

"1-10% of patients respond well to drugs that do
not go on to receive FDA approval for that
indication"

http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/ctac/1113/Precision%20Cancer%20Medicine.
pdf

In the past, some patients have had remarkable, sometimes long-lasting, response to test treatment - they are the Exceptional Responders (ER), but if they weren't over 10 % of subjects, the tests were considered failures.  Nobody knew why some patients did so well.

Now science wants to know.  And thus the new study: Exceptional Responders Initiative.   Some tissue samples are still available from early studies and there are samples available from non-tested patients. 

I wish I had a scientist pen pal to tell me what happened to some exceptional responders after the early studies ended.    Did some of them need the treatment again in later life? Were they unable to get it since there was no FDA approval?   But I digress.

To get back to this study:

For an easy, quick-read outline of the study, try the above reference or 

If you Google 

Exceptional Responders and NCI-MATCH Initiatives  deainfo.nci.nih.gov/.  

I wish you health.