Novel Cancer Drug Shows Promise

The Wall Street Journal

Seattle Genetics Inc. said its novel blood-cancer treatment, which attacks cancerous cells but ignores healthy ones, shrank tumors in three-quarters of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to a study of 102 patients released Monday.

The drug, called brentuximab vedotin, in development with Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., is part of a generation of biotechnology therapies that aims to bolster chemotherapy's effectiveness while reducing its damaging side effects. Chemotherapy is usually given to a patient as a systemic treatment, meaning it travels through the entire body. While killing cancer cells, it also kills other cells and often makes patients very ill... Read More