SALT LAKE CITY — A new cancer treatment is becoming a priority when treating difficult cases and is saving lives.
"Precision Medicine" is the opposite of a "one size fits all mentality" and instead, takes into account an individual's unique genetic makeup as well as other factors.
David Perry is just one of the patients who has benefited from this type of treatment. Just looking at him, you'd never know he was sick.
"I'm trying to do things that I would normally do go to the gym whenever I can work as much as I can play with the grandchildren as much as I can.
"I'm trying to do things that I would normally do," he explained. "Go to the gym whenever I can work as much as I can play with the grandchildren as much as I can."
In 2018, Perry suffered a seizure and was eventually given a bleak prognosis.
"I woke up several hours later in the intensive care at McKay Dee Hospital," he recalled. "At which point I was informed that I had a brain tumor."
Dr. Joe Mendez, Perry's doctor, specializes in neuro-oncology and is one of only four doctors in Utah to treat patients who have similar brain tumors.
"We are trying to tailor a treatment to the patients themselves and not necessarily generalizing the patient to every other patient we're treating," Mendez explained. "In doing so we are able to design a treatment that specifically is going to target or go after or attack a specific change in that person's tumor, hence the precision."
Mendez found Perry was the perfect candidate for a new experimental drug. He enrolled in a clinical trial called "Indigo," hoping to win the fight against fate.
The trial was a major victory.
"People typically think of cancer treatment as yucky stuff, the radiation, chemotherapy, feeling very sick not being able to work," Perry said. "But for me, it's the game changer, because I don't have any of that."
Thanks to the treatment, the tumor is "asleep," Perry said.
"The tumor is asleep, the drug is working. This is the game changer not just for me, but for everybody else...This is very hopeful and a cure is found in my opinion."
Mendez agreed, saying the results are a huge win in the medical field overall.
"In our field in oncology, we haven't had a drug really be developed or FDA approved or even shown to be positive on a phase three clinical trial and decades," Mendez explained. "And so to have this advance, it's pretty phenomenal."
For now, the drug Perry was given is still in the trial phase and there's no estimate on when it might receive FDA approval. But Mendez says the concept of "Precision Medicine" will continue to evolve as doctors create better treatment plans for cancer patients.
"I'm on a drug that is working," he reflected. "So there's no need to be afraid of the future, I can have a normal life. I can go to work and enjoy the grandchildren. Everything's looking bright for me."
