Episode 5 - Recent Additions to the Pipeline

During this segment, Daniel J. George, MD, and Jeffrey Weber, MD, PhD, explore recently approved immunotherapy agents for the treatment of cancer.

Dr George briefly explains how sipuleucel-T and ipilimumab utilize the body’s immune system to fight disease. Dr George continues by explaining how these agents have demonstrated improvements in survival for patients with prostate cancer and melanoma. Furthermore, when looking at the expensive costs of treatment, the benefits make therapy more of an “investment” than an expense.

Dr Weber explains that sipuleucel-T is a vaccine, while ipilimumab is a checkpoint protein inhibitor. Then, he discusses the differences between these agents and how they work.

As Dr George and Dr Weber examine the safety profiles of each of these treatment options, the doctors address the importance of managing corresponding treatment side effects and adverse events, and recognize the need to control the high costs of treatment.