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In Britain, some children with cancer are now being given a new type of drug treatment that is much less toxic than chemotherapy.
According to the BBC, 11-year-old Arthur was one of the first to try this treatment for blood cancer (leukemia) at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. His family calls the treatment “the light that illuminates the darkness,” which, unlike chemotherapy, did not make Arthur sicker.
With medications that can be administered outside of the hospital setting, patients can spend more time with their families at home. The medication can be transported in a backpack.
Because chemotherapy failed to eradicate all of the cancer and left the patient very weak, Blinatumomab, or Blina for short, was Arthur’s only real option.
Blina is a drug approved to treat cancer in adults, and experts hope it can be used safely in children too. Around 20 centers in the UK use this medicine in children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL).
The drug used in immunotherapy looks for cancer cells so that the body’s immune system can recognize and destroy them. In contrast to chemotherapy, healthy cells are not touched.
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