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Cancer Breakthrough

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 Hopeful news in recent days about an old and dear desideratum: a cure for cancer. Or at least for a cancer, and a nasty one at that.

 The news comes about because investors in GlaxoSmithKline are greedy for profits, and has already inspired a bit of deregulation to boot. 

 The FDA has paved the road for a speedy review of a new BCMA drug for multiple myeloma, essentially cancer of the bone marrow. This means that the US govt has removed some of the hurdles that would otherwise (by decision of the same govt) face a company trying to proceed with these trials expeditiously. 

 This has been done because the Phase I clinical trial results have been very promising. The report I've seen indicates that details of these results will be shared with the world on Dec. 11 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology. 

 The European Medicines Agency has also given priority treatment to the drug in question. 

 GSK's website identifies the drug at issue as "GSK2857916," although I imagine they'll come up with a snappier name as they come around to marketing this. They call it an "anti BCMA monoclonal antibody conjugated to the cytotoxic agent monomethyl auristatin-F, via non-cleavable linker (drug linker technology in-licensed from Seattle Genetics)."

 I can't decode all the jargon there.  But I'm curious. Can there really be a cure (not just a treatment but a cure) for one sort of cancer that does nothing for the other sorts? Isn't the disease process essentially the same whatever the particular organ that comes under attack? Whatever the "linker technology" is, doesn't it have other such applications? 
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