I'm dying from recurrent / metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R / M HNSCC_frustrating), so the sections about cancer in particular stand out to me. Regardless of the current state-of-the-art for cancer treatment, personalized and mRNA vaccines are likely on the verge of revolutionizing cancer treatment.
Take the HNSCC that's killing me: I got a partial glossectomy in Oct. 2022. Mine had some high-risk features, but I was assured that, with radiation therapy, it wouldn't recur In retrospect, I obviously should've done chemo and radiation, but at the time I was pleased to not need chemo, and I foolishly didn't look deeply into the data on recurrence, which is common for HNSCC, and I didn't seek second opinions.
Docs are reluctant to impose systemic chemo because of the side effects. But Transgene has a personalized vaccine that is supposed to prevent HNSCC recurrence: https://www.nec.com/en/press/202304/global_20230418_01.html: "In the head and neck cancer trial to date, all patients treated with TG4050 have remained disease-free, despite unfavorable systemic immunity and tumor micro-environment before treatment," And most of these personalized vaccines have essentially no side effects.
Moderna's mRNA-4157 platform also looks good: https://jakeseliger.com/2024/04/12/moderna-mrna-4157-v90-news-for-head-and-neck-cancer-patients-like-me/, not only in R / M HNSCC, but in melanoma and lung, too. Right now mRNA-4157 is only being tested in the recurrent / metastatic setting, as far as I know, but the logical time to use it is probably when initial surgeries are done: cut the cancer, sequence it, and then vaccine against it to prevent recurrence.
Right now, from a society-wide perspective, the healthcare I've been getting probably fails the cost-benefit test (apart from the fact that the data I'm generating for clinical trials helps move the state-of-the-art forward). My quality of life is low, and while treatment has been extending my life, it almost certainly won't lead to remission. And even if a clinical-trial drug somehow leads to complete remission, I'll never be able to sleep or speak normally again (https://jakeseliger.com/2023/08/27/on-being-ready-to-die-and-yet-also-now-being-able-to-swallow-slurries-including-ice-cream/). A few months ago my brother casually referred to me being disabled, and I was momentarily confused: Who was he talking about? But he was in fact right: I'm disabled and unlikely to ever be able to think or work in the way I did before losing my tongue.
But that should change! Part of the reason I'm so frustrated by the FDA is that mRNA-4157 and TG4050 should already be available for HNSCC. Instead, they're stuck in trial hell, while HNSCC patients like me suffer recurrences and then die.
I'm dying from recurrent / metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R / M HNSCC_frustrating), so the sections about cancer in particular stand out to me. Regardless of the current state-of-the-art for cancer treatment, personalized and mRNA vaccines are likely on the verge of revolutionizing cancer treatment.
Take the HNSCC that's killing me: I got a partial glossectomy in Oct. 2022. Mine had some high-risk features, but I was assured that, with radiation therapy, it wouldn't recur In retrospect, I obviously should've done chemo and radiation, but at the time I was pleased to not need chemo, and I foolishly didn't look deeply into the data on recurrence, which is common for HNSCC, and I didn't seek second opinions.
Docs are reluctant to impose systemic chemo because of the side effects. But Transgene has a personalized vaccine that is supposed to prevent HNSCC recurrence: https://www.nec.com/en/press/202304/global_20230418_01.html: "In the head and neck cancer trial to date, all patients treated with TG4050 have remained disease-free, despite unfavorable systemic immunity and tumor micro-environment before treatment," And most of these personalized vaccines have essentially no side effects.
Moderna's mRNA-4157 platform also looks good: https://jakeseliger.com/2024/04/12/moderna-mrna-4157-v90-news-for-head-and-neck-cancer-patients-like-me/, not only in R / M HNSCC, but in melanoma and lung, too. Right now mRNA-4157 is only being tested in the recurrent / metastatic setting, as far as I know, but the logical time to use it is probably when initial surgeries are done: cut the cancer, sequence it, and then vaccine against it to prevent recurrence.
Right now, from a society-wide perspective, the healthcare I've been getting probably fails the cost-benefit test (apart from the fact that the data I'm generating for clinical trials helps move the state-of-the-art forward). My quality of life is low, and while treatment has been extending my life, it almost certainly won't lead to remission. And even if a clinical-trial drug somehow leads to complete remission, I'll never be able to sleep or speak normally again (https://jakeseliger.com/2023/08/27/on-being-ready-to-die-and-yet-also-now-being-able-to-swallow-slurries-including-ice-cream/). A few months ago my brother casually referred to me being disabled, and I was momentarily confused: Who was he talking about? But he was in fact right: I'm disabled and unlikely to ever be able to think or work in the way I did before losing my tongue.
But that should change! Part of the reason I'm so frustrated by the FDA is that mRNA-4157 and TG4050 should already be available for HNSCC. Instead, they're stuck in trial hell, while HNSCC patients like me suffer recurrences and then die.