If you were looking purely at people living say twice as long, but that's at most just a couple years, you might have a point, but you're not. With our vaccine some people will be living their normal lifespan as they'll be free of GBM very possibly, without it they'd probably have been dead in under 5 years. That's the benefit that is being achieved by the vaccine.
In the data presented last week the K-M plots only went to just over 5 years, but they don't end there. We don't know who the longest life in the trial is as of now, but that person, and many others may still be alive, so the line will just keep getting longer for at least quite awhile. We don't know if they're completely cancer free, or not.
The point is, we're taking more than twice as many people to 5 years, and many who reach 5 may very well die of old age, not GBM. We don't know which patient it will be that gets this maximum benefit, or who might not get any benefit at all, but the point is more than twice the number currently getting this benefit will be. How can anyone possibly say no to that.
I was roughly 70 when diagnosed with leukemia. I was told that I could achieve remission without stem cells, and there was definitely a risk in going for them. I was also told that the likelihood of coming out of remission was far greater without them, and a second or third remission is often far harder to achieve than the first. I was furthermore told that at my age many hospitals wouldn't do it because they're concerned with mortality figures, and they're definitely higher for seniors. Fortunately in Southern California we have a few hospitals willing to do it, I went with City of Hope as they have the most experience of all and I had the Dr. who had the most experience there. I've met several seniors there who've come from all over the country because no one in their area would do it, they were all doing great. I would not have taken kindly if someone said, sorry you're one, two, or whatever years older than our rules permit for you to get the treatment.
I believe all diagnosed with brain cancers, not just GBM, should be permitted to add DCVax-L to the treatment, and with the current evidence at UCLA, Keytruda should be added to make it even more effective. Remember, Keytruda is approved for other diseases, so it can be used off label for brain cancers even though it's not yet approved. I really don't believe the insurance companies will argue with the Doctors in doing so. In time the same thing may be said about adding DCVax-L in many solid cancers, it will take some anecdotal evidence, but full approval is not required before it can become part of the SOC if benefits are clearly being seen.
Gary
AI
