#1

I hope the future brings longevity scientists doing work like this, and publishing it, …

A scientist who successfully treated her own breast cancer by injecting the tumour with lab-grown viruses has sparked discussion about the ethics of self-experimentation.

Beata Halassy discovered in 2020, aged 49, that she had breast cancer at the site of a previous mastectomy. It was the second recurrence there since her left breast had been removed, and she couldn’t face another bout of chemotherapy.

Halassy, a virologist at the University of Zagreb, studied the literature and decided to take matters into her own hands with an unproven treatment.

A case report published in Vaccines in August1 outlines how Halassy self-administered a treatment called oncolytic virotherapy (OVT) to help treat her own stage 3 cancer. She has now been cancer-free for four years.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03647-0?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=nature&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1731078037

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#2

I wonder what it cost her monetarily. Can’t help thinking about the enormous amount of money spent by drug industry on developing cancer drugs. Incredible.

#3

Ok, I don’t know how to copy/paste an X post, so here is post from Dr Vinay Prasad:

“She had a tiny local recurrence at the site of primary breast cancer. She injected it with the virus, it got a little softer, and then they cut it out anyway, which is the standard of care, then she got a year of traztuzamab. This article is beyond misleading. And no one reads.”

I do however agree that I hope longevity peeps do similar things.

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