A drug named Zykadia was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration and has been heralded as the newest and most promising drug for lung cancer. In fact, Zykadia has been dubbed as the breakthrough therapy when it comes to lung cancer medicine. What is unique about this drug though is the fact that it is not designed for everyone who has a lung cancer- a disease that kills almost 160,000 Americans annually. Zykadia also isn’t meant for non-small-cell lung cancer patients who require urgent care.
What the Drug Is For
Zykadia is specifically designed for just a few patients. In fact, it is only for about five percent of the total number of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients. These patients also have to possess a gene mutation that specifically causes their tumors to reject treatments that already exist. This drug has been proven to be effective in shrinking the tumors and to extend the lives of these specific patients, taking away the need to visit urgent care clinics.
What the Approval Means
Because the FDA approved Zykadia so quickly, this just proves that the era of personalized medicine is approaching quickly and has become a reality, amidst a lot of doubts that it will ever come to life. Treatments and drugs that have been tailored specifically for genetic makeups of individuals have been beating the usual “one-size-fits-all” drugs because of obvious economic and scientific reasons. These drug innovations tend to lessen the need for patients to find an urgent care clinic because the drugs are simply not working for them. This is groundbreaking for lung cancer patients whose bodies are rejecting the usual treatment set for the disease.
What Innovations Have Been Going On
The FDA has approved a lot of innovative treatments since 2011. These treatments were designed for patients with melanoma who have different kinds of genetic mutations. The FDA has also been approving a lot of drugs that were created to treat specific cancers, along with the aim to treat cystic fibrosis found among a few people as well.
A lot of drug companies have been recently increasing their investment in finding personalized drugs for specific diseases. This can be seen just by looking at the increase in the number of therapies that are targeted. In fact, the FDA has said that around 80 percent of almost 50 medicines that have been dubbed as possible breakthrough meds need the involvement of therapies that are targeted. If this is the rate that breakthrough drugs become approved, you might not need to ask, “Where can I find an urgent care near me?” anymore.
