Panorama: Can You Cure My Cancer?, 2100 GMT, Wednesday 11 February, BBC One.

[Myrddin]

A program tonight that might be of interest - talking about the new drug treatments and trials run at the Royal Marsden collaborating with the Institute of Cancer Research

see bbc.co.uk/news/health-31379364

[teakbank12]

I've set it to record.

[alexmcg48]

So what did you think?

It seemed to show how difficult treating cancer can be, because most of the patients receiving specifically targeted treatment found that after initially good or very good results they hit a wall called resistance (where the cancer cells mutated sufficiently for the drugs to be no longer effective) & they had to come off the drug or drugs & the cancer took over. Immune oncology also had it's drawbacks, because it can encourage the immune system to attack organs we need like the liver. Still it showed there's a lot of good work being done & if they can overcome some of the setbacks in a few years time there maybe some viable treatments for some cancers that don't rely on chemotherapy.

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero in reply to alexmcg48]

In some ways CLL is at the forefront of cancer research, with new small molecules like Imbruvica (ibrutinib), Zydelig (idelalisib) and the new monoclonal antibody Gazyva (obinutuzumab) starting to become more widely used... none are chemotherapy.

Also CLL has many other new treatments in trials and second generation inhibitors on the way... that may get around genetic resistance and change to more aggressive drivers.

This is a reason to watch & wait, the CLL treatment landscape is changing continously...for the better.

~chris

[Myrddin]

Worth watching on catchup if you missed it. Was a well balance and realistic program and certainly did highlight the difficulty and some very positive outcomes. Great that so much work is being done which may benefit all flavours of cancer .