FILE - This May 25, 2004 file photo shows aspirin tablets. Aspirin, one of the world's oldest and cheapest drugs, has shown remarkable promise in treating colon cancer in people with certain genetic mutations that often play a role in the disease. The study appears in the Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 New England Journal of Medicine. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Dave Einsel)
News Summary: Amgen virus-vaccine shrinks tumors
Published: 08:36:16 PM, Wed 20 March 2013 UTC
GOOD NEWS: Drugmaker Amgen's innovative melanoma treatment shrank far more tumors than standard treatment in a late-stage test. The experimental injected drug, dubbed T-VEC, uses a modified virus as a Trojan horse to infiltrate tumors, rip cancer cells apart and make immune cells attack, too.
THE RESULTS: T-VEC made skin cancer tumors disappear or shrink for six months or more in one in six study participants — versus one in 50 given standard treatment. Longer-term survival results, due at year's end, are crucial.
THE REACTION: Amgen shares briefly jumped to an all-time high and finished up 1.8 percent at $94.05.
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