QLT negotiated for the remaining rights to Photofrin. The large pharmaceutical companies paid for most of the clinical trials and then lost interest. It is approved for treatment of early-stage lung cancer, as well as bladder and esophageal cancer. It also is approved in Japan for cervical and stomach cancer. Chanin was symptom-free when he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer after a routine physical in June.
Esophageal cancer is one of the deadliest cancers.
Most patients are diagnosed too late to be saved. Chanin's cancer was found after a blood test showed that he was slightly anemic. A gastroenterologist, acting on a hunch, checked his esophagus after a colon exam found nothing. I saw a little pimple on the television screen. Chanin, who then weighed 485 pounds, was rejected for the traditional cancer surgery at two hospitals because of his weight.