NPR

Scientists Race To Improve 'Living Drugs' To Fight Cancer

To outwit cancer, researchers are working on better ways to teach patients' immune system to root out and kill malignant cells. A promising approach involves cells that attack cancer two ways at once.
Patient Aaron Reid receives (CAR) T-cell therapy at the NIH in Bethesda, MD. The process took five minutes to complete.

Aaron Reid is lying in a hospital bed at the National Institutes of Health when doctors arrive to make sure he's ready for his experimental treatment.

"How's your night? Any issues?" asks Dr. Katherine Barnett, a pediatric oncologist, as they begin to examine Reid.

Reid, 20, of Lucedale, Miss., has been fighting leukemia ever since he was nine years old. He's been through chemotherapy and radiation twice, a bone marrow transplant and two other treatments.

But the leukemia keeps coming back. This time, the cancer is all over his body. He can feel the pain in his bones. He's here today for what could be his last hope.

"The big plan for the day: Get

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