The Deacon's Bench
Cardinal Francis George was dropped from the clinical drug trial to treat his cancer because recent scans showed the treatment hasn’t worked for him, the Archdiocese of Chicago said in a statement Wednesday.
While the experimental antibody drug was not effective in George’s case, physicians and others overseeing the trial assured him the information they gathered during his treatment will benefit others, the archdiocese said.
George was participating in a trial being conducted by University of Chicago Medicine, but he also remained under the care of Loyola University Hospital.
The University of Chicago could not immediately respond to a request for information regarding the drug trial.
In announcing George’s participation in the trial in August, the archdiocese said the drug “may work by activating cells of the immune system enabling them to attack cancer cells. This approach differs from that of traditional chemotherapy, which uses drugs designed to be toxic to cancer cells. A preliminary trial of this new drug has shown promising results for patients who have the same type of cancer as Cardinal George.”
George will meet with his physicians at Loyola in January to discuss how best to address some of the side effects of his cancer, which so far has not spread to any vital organs, the archdiocese said.
Photo: Cardinal Francis George in 2011 by Photobra Adam Bielawski from Wikipedia
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