<i>NY Times</i>: Fresh and Major Attention to Immunotherapy and Cancer

Untitled Document The New York Times this weekend unveiled a dramatic, special report on immunotherapy to treat cancer, a field in which California's stem cell agency has invested tens of millions of dollars.

The Times' work will undoubtedly focus greater public attention on the use of immunotherapies and generate a fresh surge of interest on the part of patients who are unfamiliar with the expensive treatment, which is very much in its infancy. The Times wrote,

"Harnessing the immune system to fight cancer, a medical dream for more than a century, is becoming a reality. Terminally ill patients who had slim chances of surviving have gone into remission and patients with inoperable tumors are gaining months or years. But so far, the new treatments work for only a minority patients, and doctors are not sure why. The treatments are prohibitively expensive, and not all patients have access to them."

The Times did not deal with any of the work specifically backed by California. But as recently as March, the $3 billion California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM), as the stem...