First Prostate Cancer “Vaccine” Approved

It's called a vaccine, the Boston Globe reports, but it treats a disease rather than prevents it. It does that the way vaccine's do: it trains the body's immune system to fight tumors. Dendreon Corp.’s Provenge is big news because it's the first-of-a-kind prostate cancer treatment to be approved by the FDA., and because it offers an alternative seriously unpleasant treatments like chemotherapy.The Globe reports that the treatment is intended for
prostate cancer that has spread elsewhere in the body and is not
responding to hormone therapy. And while some medical
specialists hail today's approval as a milestone, this particular
therapy would be an addition to current medical practice, not a replacement.

Read more in the Boston Globe.