The End of the Beginning

Synopsis

For the first time since a fifth-century Greek physician gave the name “cancer” (karkinos, in Greek) to a deadly disease first described in Egyptian Papyri, the medical world is near a breakthrough that could allow even the most conservative doctors and pragmatic patients to use the other “c word”—cure—in the same sentence as cancer. A remarkable series of events has brought us to this point, thanks in large part to a new ability to more efficiently harness the extraordinary power of the human immune system. The End of the Beginning is a remarkable history of cancer treatment and the evolution of our understanding of its dynamic interplay with the immune system. Through Michael Kinch’s personal experience as a cancer researcher at Washington University and the head of the oncology program at a leading biotechnology company, we witness the incredible accumulation of breakthrough science and its rapid translation into life-saving technologies that have begun to dramatically increase the quality and quantity of life for cancer patients. Expanding upon Kinch’s own remarkable projects to encompass the vaccines being deployed to eliminate cervical cancer and the development of cancer-specific “smart bombs” in the form of monoclonal antibodies, cellular therapies, and checkpoint inhibitors, The End of the Beginning reveals the incredible transformation of cancer treatment happening today.