magic bullet

[jacob]

Then chemotherapy ?superceded? radiation and soon there will be the magic bullet that will target cancer and when realized, bring a cure. In fact surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are complementary modalities.

It seems that magic bullet is coming really fast after the new findings. The idea is that the whole cancer story is looked at in a different angle. And the result should be a pill or a bunch of pills that people could buy in pharmacies or online pharmacies. But chemotherapy could complement the pill treatment so I don't think this field will die all that sudden.

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[stephew]

well id say that's about parellel to nixon's statement about curing cancer from the early 1970's. btw this forum isn't about chemo.

 

[Doctor&Geek]

Let's be honest - considering how long it took for Gleevec to move from basic science to drug screening to preclinical and clinical trials, and considering that that was probably one of the easier targets out there, we should not look to have the magic bullets against a wide spectrum of cancers anytime in the next two decades, at least.

 

[stephew]

its not just slowness of development. its the (so far) limited efficacy. yes there is efficacy. but its not "the magic bullet".

 

[G'ville Nole]

its not just slowness of development. its the (so far) limited efficacy. yes there is efficacy. but its not "the magic bullet".

You know, the more talks I hear about targeted therapies, the more I learn about the "back doors" in the cell signaling pathway which cause intrinsic resistance from the outset. It becomes a situation where you keep throwing targeted agents at more and more targets; not enough fingers to stick in all the leaks in the **** if you will.

Unless something very different comes along, it seems like targeted therapies are more akin to magic spitwads than magic bullets. Needless to say, I'm not extremely worried about the future of my profession.

 

[stephew]

excellent post G, on many counts (the spitwad analogy in particular). Well expressed. Doesnt mean we can't strive for the bullet, or even make the disease chronic. but its not here soon.