Cancer: an avatar to heal
A beautiful story as Americans like to tell them. Dean, 63, has a pancreatic tumour. The operation does not come to an end. Dean seems incurable. Fortunately, the man may have found his savior... in a mouse! A clinic offers Dean to transplant tumor tissue onto a mouse, deprived of immune defense, in order to create a personalized model of the patient. Thus, doctors can use the mouse as a guinea pig, and test on it the best possible treatment. And it worked. Dean, who had only a few months of survival, lived 5 years without being sick.
Stories like this, the clinic regularly posts on its site. It must be said that modesty does not stifle the establishment that comes as "Champions of Cancer" (Champions Oncology).
The idea is to create patient avatars in order to safely test all possible drug combinations. Dean, for example, has recovered with a half-century-old treatment, and little used in the United States: mitomycin C.
Thus, the patient's avatar could increase the chances of recovery. This gives medical teams the opportunity to try several combinations and make mistakes before they even start treatment.
Champions Oncology prides itself on having cured some 60 patients. "We've had only three failures," says the management of the private establishment. Provided you ignore the other fifty patients who died before their avatars are ready. It takes 8 to 10 months for the teams to create guinea pigs. However, patients who use this type of experience often have nothing to lose. Their cancer is often very poor prognosis and rapidly evolving.
An expensive method
An avatar to heal. This is an idea that only the rich could afford to realize. Of course, the clinic does not display its rates that vary from patient to patient because each patient is unique, as is his tumor. This is the clinic's slogan: 'find the right patient and the right treatment'. But the avatar is a luxury: in an interview with Le Temps, a Swiss newspaper, the director of the clinic confided that it was necessary to pay nearly 20,000 euros to create a cohort of guinea pigs and test 4 to 5 treatments on them. All at the expense of the patient of course!
Hope for research
These medical avatars may eventually become an unexpected tool for personalized medicine. Admittedly, the concept sounds a bit like a good sci-fi movie. But before you take your dreams for reality, there are many ethical and financial barriers to overcome. Who will finance these avatars: the state or the patient? If the avatar allows you to live longer and healthier lives, how far can it be abused?
Stories like this, the clinic regularly posts on its site. It must be said that modesty does not stifle the establishment that comes as "Champions of Cancer" (Champions Oncology).
The idea is to create patient avatars in order to safely test all possible drug combinations. Dean, for example, has recovered with a half-century-old treatment, and little used in the United States: mitomycin C.
Thus, the patient's avatar could increase the chances of recovery. This gives medical teams the opportunity to try several combinations and make mistakes before they even start treatment.
Champions Oncology prides itself on having cured some 60 patients. "We've had only three failures," says the management of the private establishment. Provided you ignore the other fifty patients who died before their avatars are ready. It takes 8 to 10 months for the teams to create guinea pigs. However, patients who use this type of experience often have nothing to lose. Their cancer is often very poor prognosis and rapidly evolving.
An expensive method
An avatar to heal. This is an idea that only the rich could afford to realize. Of course, the clinic does not display its rates that vary from patient to patient because each patient is unique, as is his tumor. This is the clinic's slogan: 'find the right patient and the right treatment'. But the avatar is a luxury: in an interview with Le Temps, a Swiss newspaper, the director of the clinic confided that it was necessary to pay nearly 20,000 euros to create a cohort of guinea pigs and test 4 to 5 treatments on them. All at the expense of the patient of course!
Hope for research
These medical avatars may eventually become an unexpected tool for personalized medicine. Admittedly, the concept sounds a bit like a good sci-fi movie. But before you take your dreams for reality, there are many ethical and financial barriers to overcome. Who will finance these avatars: the state or the patient? If the avatar allows you to live longer and healthier lives, how far can it be abused?