New Topic In The News ... XXXXXXX XXXXXXX Died Yesterday

Posted on Tue, 16 Oct 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 16 Oct 2018 Answered on

Last reviewed on

Question : New topic in the news ... XXXXXXX XXXXXXX died yesterday .. In early October 2018, he wrote:
“I learned recently that the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that I was treated for in 2009 has returned. My team of doctors has begun treatment of the disease and I plan on fighting this aggressively.
“A lot has happened in medicine since I overcame this disease in 2009. My doctors are optimistic that I will see good results from the latest therapies, as am I."
He had Non-Hodgkins .. which flavor? (I have follicular)
Also, curious if anyone thinks he tried 'Yescarta' (CAR-T therapy .. I assume)
As there is a definite chance of death from this new 'therapy' .. will the oncology profession know definitively if he went down this path - and passed away because of it?
So, 2 question to answer - or even speculate.

Answered by Dr. Vaishalee Punj (14 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Yescarta is a gene therapy

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to Ask A Doctor service.

I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

Yescarta is a type of gene therapy and gene therapy is still in research phase.

Therapies like Yescarta are approved by FDA with a warning. Also its not freely available.
If he took it, there would be records. Otherwise it cant be said for sure if he took it or ot as its side effects are not yet properly defined.
Yes some speculation can be there based on clinical research findings. Clinical trials happen before marketing of drugs and side effect profile is defined based on those findings.

Hope this helps. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Dr Vaishalee

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj