Is Chemotherapy on the Way Out?

New, less toxic cancer treatments are emerging, but don’t expect chemo to disappear anytime soon.When Mary Olsen received a diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common type of leukemia in adults, she wanted to try a new, targeted cancer therapy that was showing great promise in clinical trials.

But when it came time to get treatment, Olsen, 68, a retired director for early child care education from Indiana, says chemotherapy was her only option.

“I was scheduled for one treatment a month for six months,” she said. “Unfortunately, I did not have a successful experience with chemo.”

After two cycles, Olsen developed sepsis, a life-threatening illness caused by your body’s response to an infection.

While recovering in the hospital, she says her oncologist came to her room and told her, “No more chemo.”

That was just what she wanted to hear.

Olsen had now qualified for a new drug called ibrutinib (Imbruvica). It targets cancer but, unlike chemo, doesn’t generally destroy healthy cells.

“I was anxious, and I did have and still do have some side effects,” she said. “Fortunately, in the scope of things, they are minor and manageable.

They don’t interfere with my daily life, and I am grateful for the benefits of Imbruvica.”