So far, the drug, manufactured by Sugen, appears to slow or arrest tumor growth in about a third of glioblastoma patients, but it's too soon to say how long the benefits will last. Side effects appear to be mild. His tumor is still there, but it's stable. For someone with recurrent glioblastoma, that's remarkable. Malkin is quick to point out that one growth-factor inhibitor isn't going to cure cancer.
Cancer is a complicated disease.
Tumors usually are made up of different types of cells, expressing different genes, sensitive to different growth factors and therefore responding to different drugs. Like AIDS treatments, the new generation of cancer drugs will need to be combined with older drugs and possibly with one another to be most effective. If the promise of these drugs holds up, however, cancer treatment in the 21st century will bear little resemblance to today's chemotherapy. But it will be years before this library can be put to practical use. It's also possible that the new generation of drugs emerging from the labs won't work very well, or that the much vaunted lack of major side effects will prove to be an illusion.