Why Has the World Still Not Found a Cure For Cancer?
Cancer. It's the six-letter word that can scare even the bravest. Cancer has plagued humankind for centuries. The Egyptians mentioned it. The Greeks named it. And US President Richard Nixon declared a war on it.
It kills 10 million people every year. Yet we have no cure. All we have is chemotherapy and even that is toxic. It leaves you weak and tired. Now a new drug has raised hope. It's called Blina Tumomab or just Blina.
It's an immunotherapy drug. What makes it better is that it is less toxic, less invasive. And you can take it at home. But will this be the elusive cure to cancer? Our next report tells you. Human kind has made all sorts of advances.
here's space travel. There's artificial intelligence. There's talking robots. But if there's one thing we haven't found yet, it's a cure for cancer. A new drug has sparked hope. But will it be any better?
It is a trillion-dollar question because cancer costs the world $1 .9 trillion every year. This is a disease that has haunted humankind for centuries. It was first described by ancient Egyptians. The first mention is in the Edwin Smith Papyrus.
So that's dating back to 1600 BC. The document mentions breast tumor's being removed. But it says there is no cure. Then we have Hippocrates, the father of medicine. He is believed to have given cancer its name.
t came from the word cancións. Basically, it means crabs. According to him, the tumor's looked crab -like. So that's how it got its name. But what exactly is cancer? Cancer is not a single disease. In fact, it's an umbrella of diseases.
over 200 of them. It can start in any part of the body. It happens when there are changes in a group of normal cells. This leads to uncontrolled growth. It's abnormal and forms a lump known as a tumour.
This is true for all cancers except leukemia which is blood cancer. So cancer is varied. It's different for every person, which is why it's so hard to find a cure. And that makes it deadly. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally.
10 million people die every year from cancer and more than half of all cancer cases are preventable. So what are we doing? Well, humankind has poured billions into cancer research. The 1940s gave us chemotherapy.
It's the use of toxic chemicals to kill cancer cells. But it often leaves patients weak. Yet, 80 years later, chemo is still the first choice to treat cancer. Thank you. Now, a new drug has sparked excitement.
It's called Blena Tumab. It's an immunotherapy drug. It is said to be less toxic than chemotherapy. Basically what it does is to look for cancer cells. That way the body can recognise them and then destroy them.
It's already licenced for adults to use and now it's being used for kids in trials. So how is it different? Blena is more promising because unlike chemo, it isn't painful. It comes in a liquid bag and is administered through the vein.
And more importantly, it can be given at home. Which means patients won't even have to go to the hospital. Now, Blena has shown success but it isn't 100% foolproof. Which brings us back to the question.
Why do we still not have a cure? Chemo came in the 1940s. US President Richard Nixon declared a war on cancer in 1971. Since then, there have been trials, research, billions of dollars have been spent.
Yet no one cure is available. Of course we have more options. There's cancer vaccines, immunotherapy drugs. But the problem remains the same. How do you treat cancer without killing normal cells? It was the big question back then and it's still the big question now.
