Taming Cancer: 21st Century Biology and the Future of Cancer Medicine

by Drew N. Kelner

Overview

WINNER OF 5 BOOK AWARDS, INCLUDING THE 2025 AMERICAN LEGACY BOOK AWARD IN HEALTH: CANCER

AND THE 2024 BEST INDIE BOOK AWARD WINNER IN MEDICINE!   

"A marvelous book that's packed with knowledge, insight, and hope..."- Kirkus Reviews

"Kelner's writing shines in its ability to distill complex scientific concepts into accessible language."  - Reedsy Discovery  

Why does cancer exist? How does it progress from a single renegade cell to a deadly metastatic disease? Why is metastatic cancer so hard to treat successfully? What is immunotherapy, and how does it work? What other new treatments should cancer patients know about?  What will the future of cancer treatment look like?

These questions, and more, are addressed in this lucid and fascinating book by a biochemist and immunologist with 38 years of experience developing innovative cancer medicines.  Taming Cancer tells the epic origin story of today's astonishing immunotherapies—medical marvels comprised of "living drugs," including antibodies, engineered viruses, and genetically modified immune cells—that are changing the paradigm of cancer medicine from toxic and destructive treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation to precision targeted medicines that are improving both the duration and quality of life for those cancer patients fortunate enough to respond to them.

Dr. Kelner's book sends a message of hope, culminating in a vision of a future (perhaps by mid-century) when a diagnosis of metastatic cancer is no longer by default a harbinger of impending suffering and death. Rather, it will be a time when cancer can be managed as a chronic disease like diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis. For the most responsive patients, the eradication of cancer cells from the body—the long-sought cure for metastatic cancer—will become a more commonplace event for larger numbers of cancer sufferers. 

 

GLOWING EDITORIAL REVIEWS FOR "TAMING CANCER"!

KIRKUS REVIEWS SAYS "GET IT!": "A remarkably lucid discussion of the startling advancements in cancer therapy like precision oncology that can characterize in exquisite detail the molecular characteristics of each patient's cancer… he achieves his goal not only to provide a rigorous synopsis of the most recent research, but also to convey his enthusiasm and wonder for biology and medicine."

Reedsy Discovery awards 5 stars and rates Taming Cancer a "Must Read": "Kelner's work is both a tribute to the combined public and private attempt to alleviate the human tragedy of cancer.  The book offers insightful analysis, interesting history, and hope, making it a valuable addition to the stores of science communication. Kelner's book also deserves a solid recommendation for its educational value. It will be an edifying read for many, helping disentangle the complexity of the project of turning cancer from a deadly disease into a manageable one."

"A" rating from Booklife Reviews by Publisher's Weekly: "Biochemist and immunologist Kelner offers welcome hope in this study of the history of science's understanding of cancer…Kelner demonstrates a keen facility for the clarifying metaphor...  This book bursts with good news."
 

Product Details

BN ID:	2940180400338
Publisher:	BioCentury Press
Publication date:	10/15/2024
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

For the past 35 years, I've been a biochemist and immunologist engaged in the development of biopharmaceutical drugs—proteins (such as antibodies), engineered immune cells, and even engineered viruses (it's in Chapter 14)—that target human diseases at the molecular level.  During my career, I've had the great privilege of participating in the development of innovative medicines for cancer, hemophilia, anemia, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis that have been used by millions of people around the world. I was born and raised on Long Island and left home to pursue a B.S. in chemistry from Haverford College and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Duke University.  I am currently the President of Shenandoah Biotechnology Consulting, LLC, in Charlottesville, VA, where I reside with my beloved wife Deb. This book is the product of a long and exhilarating career in the scientific trenches of the biopharmaceutical industry and a seemingly natural consequence of my lifelong preoccupation: biology and medicine. I wrote Taming Cancer to pay forward the privilege I had of working at the leading edge of cancer drug development and to send a message of hope to cancer patients and their families throughout the world.

Questions and/or comments are welcome at [e-mail] If you don't mind leaving an honest review, I would be grateful for the feedback!.