First US drug to treat cancer "from its genetic source"

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the release of Viagra, the first drug in the world to treat cancer from its source, for adults and children, according to the commissioner of the government agency. Unlike all previous drugs that dealt with the site of the tumor rather than the place in the body. At the origin of the tumor, the new drug depends on the treatment of genetic mutations of cancerous tumors, regardless of the type of disease or place of origin.

"The approval of the authorization and the introduction of this drug is an important step in the treatment of cancer because it treats it from its source and treats the basic genes of cancerous tumors independently from the location of their origin in the human body, "said Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. And contributes to the treatment of people with different tumors, but with common genetic mutations.

"Traditionally, cancer was treated on the basis of the source of the cancer, but now the treatment will be anywhere in the body because you treat the original gene that caused it. said Dr. David Hayman, president of the Center for Early Drug Development at the New York-based Memorandum Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Emergence of the tumor ".

The drug was tested on a woman named Anna Plaza, suffering from a cancerous tumor, and on her daughter Rihanna, who had the same tumor on the arm.The drug was administered to the newborn every day and the scientists were surprised to find that the tumor began to contract after just 3 days. The tumor was completely eradicated several months ago and the doctors did not have to cut off the baby's arm.

The drug will be offered in two forms, the first in the form of tablets or capsules and the other in the form of a special medicine for children, but it remains so far expensive: the program will cost more than 393,000 dollars a year.

"About 25% to 30% of patients with cancer tumors have mutations in the gene," said Dr. Richard Bazdar, director of the oncology center at the US Drug Administration.