A living drug that fits on a spoon saves the lives of eight young people with the most common childhood cancer

"A new living drug, made up of cells small enough to fit on a spoon and produced at a public hospital in Madrid, has so far saved the lives of eight young people suffering from an extremely aggressive form of the most common childhood cancer B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The patients, all under the age of 24, had been declared terminal after multiple relapses and the failure of all conventional treatments."

"The lead researcher, pediatrician Antonio Perez, presented the results on Thursday at La Paz University Hospital: a 70% survival rate after more than a year and a half of follow-up. A delighted patient, 15-year-old Lucia Alvarez from the Spanish city of Cadiz, joined doctors, politicians, and donors at the event. Her name is the latest to be added to a hopeful list of young people who are at the forefront of this medical revolution."

"The first was Emily Whitehead, a six-year-old U.S. girl with seemingly fatal leukemia who, in desperation, became the first child patient treated with this experimental therapy, called CAR-T, in 2012. It worked perfectly, and her doctors now consider her cured. Thousands of people have survived since then thanks to their own modified cells. The father of the treatment, U.S. immunologist Carl June, speaks of resurrections like that of Lazarus, the biblical figure miraculously revived by Jesus Christ."

A living drug made of engineered immune cells produced at a public Madrid hospital has saved eight young people with aggressive B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The patients, all under 24, were declared terminal after multiple relapses and failure of conventional treatments. The therapy extracts immune cells, re-engineers them in the laboratory to increase tumor-killing ability, and reintroduces them to destroy cancer. Follow-up reported a 70% survival rate after more than eighteen months. A 15-year-old patient joined clinicians and donors at the event. CAR-T therapies have produced striking cures but still fail in many cases, saving about half of children with the most aggressive tumors.

Read at english.elpais.com