What remains after the passing of former President Jimmy Carter encompasses more than politics and humanitarianism, it also includes cancer care, according to a Dec. 29 NBC News report.
Diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in 2015 at the age of 90, Mr. Carter was one of the first public figures to speak openly about immunotherapy. He was treated with the drug pembrolizumab, relatively new at the time and sold as Keytruda, the report said.
Mr. Carter’s willingness to talk about immunotherapy increased attention and interest in the growing field, Amod Sarnaik, MD, professor of cutaneous oncology and immunology at Tampa, Fla.-based Moffitt Cancer Center, told NBC News.
Suresh Ramalingam, MD, executive director of Atlanta-based Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute, where Mr. Carter was treated, told NBC News that, though he was not part of the care team, his colleagues were grateful for the awareness the former president raised of immunotherapy.
Michael Davies, MD, chair of the department of melanoma and medical oncology at Houston-based University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told the outlet that at least 15 new treatments for stage 4 melanoma have been approved since Mr. Carter was diagnosed.
Peter Pisters, MD, president of MD Anderson Cancer Center, recently told Becker's immunotherapy was "at the center" of recent advancements in cancer treatment.
Adam Friedman, MD, chair of dermatology at Washington, D.C.-based George Washington University, called it the "Carter effect," and told NBC News the former president's influence "spawned a new era of hope for patients who would ordinarily be hopeless."
Read the full report here.