Doctors Discover Genetic Treatment for Leukemia

(NEWSER) – Dr. Lukas Wartman may be the world's luckiest cancer patient. Stricken with leukemia and fading fast, he inspired colleagues at Washington University to try a unique form of cancer analysis: They looked at his RNA, a near-equivalent to DNA, to discover possible genetic roots of his disease, the New York Times reports. They even put other work aside and ran machines round the clock, until they uncovered a normal gene in Wartman that was spewing massive amounts of protein and stimulating the cancer's growth.

His colleagues then bought him a month's supply of a kidney cancer drug called Sutent, which inhibits his rogue gene—for $330 a day. Now his cancer is in remission and researchers are predicting that similar genetic cancer treatments could be available in less than a decade. But ethicists say it's not fair that Wartman—and wealthy cancer victims like Steve Jobs and Christopher Hitchens—should have access to get such genetic treatments while other patients die. “If we say we need research because this is a new idea, then why is it that rich people can even access it?” asked one professor.