Pioneers of Immuno-Oncology: The People Behind the Cure

Includes interviews with 2018 Nobel Prize Winners James Allison and Tasuku Honjo The way we treat cancer is about to change forever. This revolution--and it is precisely that--was sparked not by the invention of a new drug, but by the evolution of an entirely new way of thinking about and managing cancer. Going forward, doctors will not use pharmaceuticals to attack tumors--not directly. Rather, the oncologist will treat the patient's immune system with a drug, and then the patient will treat the tumor. Based entirely on interviews with the investigators, this book is the story of the immuno-oncology pioneers. It's a story of failure, resurrection, and success. It's a story about science, it's a story about discovery, and intuition, and cunning. It's a peek into the lives and thoughts of some of the most gifted medical scientists on the planet. This is not a textbook. This is a life book. This technology will save/is saving lives, and the book celebrates the living, breathing, thinking, charming, arrogant, funny, obstinate, amazing human beings who are making immuno-oncology happen. The stories and lives shared in this book show readers the decades of devotion and passion it takes to imagine a better world and then make it happen. If this book motivates even one more similarly talented and visionary investigator to deliver on their promise it would be a wonderful success. -- Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCOChief Executive Officer, American Society of Clinical Oncology