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Article: A cure for everything? ; Breakthrough treatments for conditions from insomnia to cancer and Alzheimer's get closer every day. Jeremy Laurance reports on the pills for tomorrow's ills
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- May 1, 2007
- Author:
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Copyright informationCopyright 2007 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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This is a golden age for cancer drug discovery. More than three
decades on from US President Richard Nixon's famous declaration of
war against the disease - decades during which progress at times
seemed painfully slow - we are finally starting to reap the benefits
of the billions of pounds invested in the search for new cures.
Herceptin, the breast cancer drug, is the harbinger of what is to
come. It was one of the first "designer" cancer drugs - targeted on
a sub-group of women, the 25 per cent with HER-2 positive breast
cancer - and halved their risk of recurrence.
A raft of new drugs are awaiting approval or in the final stages
of development that could transform cancer care. Professor ...