Jennifer Matthews: Every 3 weeks, you'll find Garry Abrams here. Getting poked, swabbed and prepared to face his cancer.
Garry Abrams: I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in August of 1998.
Jennifer Matthews: When surgery, chemo and several drugs didn't kill the cancer, Garry found Doctor David Agus, who offered another option -- a new type of drug called 2C4.
Dr. David Agus: It turns off one of the switches within the cancer cell to stop it from growing and so, therefore, there's much less side effects because you're targeting the cancer, rather than targeting also the whole body.
Jennifer Matthews: But, the exciting part of this clinical trial isn't so much that the drug shows signs of working, but what it could work for.
Dr. David Agus: Lung cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and several others.
Jennifer Matthews: Not only did early trials show it may help different types of cancers, it helps some of those that are toughest to treat.
Dr. David Agus: The hope is that you can take patients with advanced cancer and give them a therapy with very few side effects that stops the growth of the disease.
Jennifer Matthews: In a study of 22 patients with breast, prostate, lung, ovarian, colon and pancreatic cancer, 42 percent had their tumors either stabilize or shrink by more than 50 percent.
For Garry, the drug has slowed an ever-increasing PSA level.
Garry Abrams: I feel pretty healthy, pretty intellectually alert. I feel good.
Jennifer Matthews: Drop-by-drop, Garry keeps his cancer in check, while leaving the side effects of treatment behind.
Garry Abrams: I come in here, have this treatment, go home, go to work, spend time with my family. I think it's possible to live with cancer, and that's what I'm trying to do.
Jennifer Matthews: This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services