In what could be considered a paradigm shift in the way we treat diseases, a new approach could be the standard soon if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepts a recommendation to treat a form of blood cancer using what is being called a living drug, gene therapy.
Developed at the University of Pennsylvania and licensed to Novartis, CTL019, or tisagenlecleucel, is what scientists are calling a living drug.
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The treatment known as Novartis’s CTL019, or tisagenlecleucel, was developed by the University of Pennsylvania and licensed to Novartis. But what sets it apart is because
it involves engineering specific genes in the patient’s T lymphocytes (T-cells) that are a part of the body’s cell-mediated immunity, to attack B-cells that are also a part of the body’s immune system, but become malignant in leukemia.
So basically it is not a drug as we are used to but consists of T-cells harvested from the patients, and new genetic material is transferred to the T-cell genome using a virus.
Then the cells which have been changed genetically are transferred to the patients body, and this procedure is said to cure the patient!
But for now, the whole world is waiting for the FDA to approve this novel method and usher in a new era in the treatment of diseases!
Sources for the post and further reading
- http://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/first-gene-therapy-in-the-world-is-here-heralds-new-era-in-medicine/764044/
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/medicine-for-another-day_us_5968c63ce4b06a2c8edb45d7
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