(NewsNation) — Billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong developed a new cancer therapy, Anktiva, that does not require patients to go through chemotherapy. But how does it work?
According to ImmunityBio, the company that developed Anktiva, the treatment harnesses the body’s immune system to destroy cancer tumors, which could make chemotherapy obsolete. While it received FDA approval to treat a specific form of bladder cancer, Soon-Shiong says the drug, which he claims has had miraculous results, has faced regulatory hurdles.
Read this article to learn more about Anktiva from Dr. Soon-Shiong himself. You can also read more of his articles here or follow his X account @DrPatSoonShiong.
Anktiva is an immunotherapy that aids the natural killer cells
Anktiva is not a chemotherapy or gene therapy. It’s an immunotherapy that activates the body’s cancer-fighting cells.
“You have, in your body, God-given, a cell that kills cancer, that kills TB, that kills HIV, that kills COVID, a cell called the natural killer cell that is your body’s first responder,” Soon-Shiong explained to NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo in an hourlong special, “Killing Cancer: The Power Within.”
The natural killer cells have a receptor “that’s looking for a protein that your body makes called interleukin 15 (Il-15),” he explained.
“Anktiva is that IL-15,” Soon-Shiong said. “It is the switch that actually binds to the NK cell and activates and proliferates them.”
In other words, when the natural killer cell is treated with IL-15, the cell becomes stronger, more durable and multiplies faster, making the body better equipped to take on and kill cancer cells.
Anktiva is combined with BCG, or Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, an immunotherapy drug delivered to the bladder through a catheter.
Currently, Anktiva is only approved by the FDA to treat adult patients with stage zero BCG-unresponsive nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer, with carcinoma in situ with or without papillary tumors.
In May, the FDA refused to expand Anktiva’s use to patients with BCG-unresponsive nonmuscle NMIBC who have papillary disease only.
Protecting natural killer cells may cure cancer: Soon-Shiong
Anktiva sets itself apart by enhancing the function of natural killer cells instead of diminishing them.
The most common cancer treatments in use today, chemotherapy and radiation, hurt the natural killer cell.
Soon-Shiong explains that “everything, from radiation to chemotherapy, the toxins we eat, to the stress, has been inducing the destruction of the natural killer cell.”
“The only thing that you need to protect in your body is your natural killer cell. And if you protect that, that’s what actually not only prevents cancer, but treats cancer and maybe cures cancer,” he said.
What other doctors say about Anktiva
In NewsNation’s special, “Killing Cancer: The Power Within,” other doctors expressed enthusiasm for Soon-Shiong’s breakthrough in cancer treatment.
“There’s so many patients with cancers, afflicted with cancer, that we could do so much more for,” said Dr. Steven Finkelstein, the national director of radiation oncology with U.S. Urology Partners. He explained that the cancer research field is desperate for a change.
“(Soon-Shiong) has something that he’s seen work … and patients have gotten a therapy that has made their cancer better,” Finkelstein said. “And that’s why it’s so important to figure out if it works, to get it to a place where everyone gets access.”
Dr. Simon Khagi, the medical director of neuro-oncology at Hoag Family Cancer Institute and a board-certified medical and neurological oncologist, also expressed support for an expedited approval process.
“I think the rules need to be maybe a little different, maybe a little bit more relaxed to allow for things and development to move faster,” Khagi said.
Soon-Shiong continues to lobby President Donald Trump’s administration to support expanding Anktiva’s use for other types of cancer.
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