See First human patient injected with revolutionary cancer-killing virus
Do you know cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths! The most common cancers are breast, lung, colon, rectum and prostate cancers. The good news now is that scientists have injected the first human patient with a new cancer-killing virus. The virus, known as Vaxinia, has seen successful tests in animals. However, the true test of its efficacy begins with this new clinical trial. See more details below.
When one hears the word virus, we tend to think of a bad omen. After all, there are many deadly diseases around the world. However, scientists are using a new cancer-killing virus known as Vaxinia in a clinical trial to fight this disease.
The hope here is that the virus will amplify the body’s immune response against cancer. The virus has been engineered specifically to kill cancer cells. These kind of cancer-killing viruses have been a “smoking gun” in the fight against cancer for over a century.
The success of these viruses have been very limited however to say the least. This time, scientists have engineered the cancer-killing virus to not only harm cancer cells, but to make them more recognizable to the body’s immune system. Scientists believe this will make the body’s response stronger, allowing it fight back better.
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Let’s not get this wrong either as previous clinical trials of cancer drugs have shown promising results too. But, Vaxinia could help open new doors too.
Clinical testing of the cancer-killing drug
Before moving on to the human tests, scientists tested the virus on animals as its done in standard medical practices. In all, they saw huge success at the shrinking tumors in early animal and lab experiments. This cancer-killing drug has shown that it can reduce the size of lung, breast, ovarian, pancreatic, and colon cancer tumors.
Bearing this in mind, scientists decide to move the testing to humans. However, results seen in animals do not necessary translate to human patients. A lot of reason justify this but they are very hopeful this virus could improve patients chance to fight back against cancer.
Lastly, the cancer-killing drug Vaxinia will be tested in a phase 1 trial of just 100 cancer patients. Researchers plan to administer the drugs to two different groups. The second group will get the cancer-killing virus plus an immunotherapy drug. Please note that phase 1 trials are mostly about safety and finding the optimal dose. As such it might not prove the efficacy of the virus as a whole. The trail is expected to be complete by early 2025. So it will be a while before we see any final results.
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