Drug companies are increasing their focus on using the body’s immune system to fight cancer, which may hold the key to eventually defeating the disease, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Thanks to the approvals of Dendreon’s Provenge and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Yervoy, so-called immunotherapies are now seen as part of any larger cancer solution because they can help provide long-term resistance.

However, their development still face hurdles as concerns remain about potential side effects and the treatment’s high costs, among the priciest in health care.

Currently, 23 cancer immunotherapies are in pipeline development, according to market-research firm Decision Resources, and companies are adding to their endeavors in the area.

“The proof of concept experiment has been done. We don’t have to convince people this is a good idea,” said Ira Mellman, vice president of research oncology at Genentech.

Many Wall Street analysts expect both Provenge and Yervoy to bring in annual sales exceeding $1 billion, and their individual price tags have raised eyebrows. Yervoy, used in melanoma, costs about $120,000 for a standard regimen, and Provenge, for prostate cancer, is $93,000.

While insurance companies and Medicare cover the cost of the drugs, it is unclear if they and physicians will continue to tolerate such high prices for cancer drugs that do not cure the disease.

Even as more effective disease-targeting drugs continue to be developed, they often just delay the ultimate recurrence as the disease develops resistance or the given treatment does not wipe out all of the cancer cells.

The hope is that the immune system’s long-term activity against the cancer could stop this cycle.

“I think it is important for durability. If we [are] ever going to use the word cure, the immune system is going to have to come into play,” said Stephen Hodi, director of the melanoma center at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Etiketler: Bristol-Myers, Cancer, cancer cells, Cancer Institute, Dow Jones, drug companies, Health, health care, immune system, melanoma, oncology, prostate, prostate cancer, side effects, vice president

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