Prescribed drugs will soon be able to treat all forms of cancer turning the disease into chronic but treatable condition.
In the last five decades, the survival rate of cancer patients has doubled from 24 percent in the 1970s to 50 per cent. Some forms of disease, however, such as pancreatic and lung cancer are still difficult to treat.
According to Professor Karol Sikora, former head of the World Health Organisation’s cancer programme, advances in genetics mean that doctors would soon be able to prescribe drugs specifically targeted at each individual’s cancer.
Speaking to The Independent, Professor Sikora said it will take five to 10 years for this medical revolution to happen.“There will be, not a cure-all, but a much better predictive way of knowing which drugs to give to which patients,” he explains.
Progress has been made to treat some cancers, but others have remained lethal.
Professor Sikora sounded hopeful and said: “I think there will be a sudden surge once we understand the data about the genome.”
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