8 December 2019 - An emerging measure for predicting cancer treatment outcomes could dramatically speed clinical trials and the approval of new therapies. What stands in the way?

When Yelak Biru was diagnosed with stage 3 multiple myeloma in 1995, his prospects looked grim. The antibody-producing immune cells in his bone marrow were growing out of control and had lodged in several of his bones. He was a newly married graduate student, just 25 years old. The disease was considered incurable, and freshly diagnosed patients, such as Biru, lived an average of just two or three years.

Twenty-four years later, Biru is a leading advocate for patients with this blood cancer, called multiple myeloma. Thanks in large part to innovative, new treatments for this disease, patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma now live an average of 10 years. Some, like Biru, are living much longer.

Read Scientific American article