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American Morning
Medicine in 2001, Looking to 2002
Aired January 02, 2002 - 08:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The battle against bioterrorism was a major challenge for the medical community in 2001 as the experts grappled with anthrax. There were some other major medical developments though as well, and the quest to make life better does continue into 2002.
Details and all that now from our Medical News Correspondent Rea Blakey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): September 11th and the anthrax attacks that followed means a big emphasis in 2002 on America's medical early warning system for bioterrorism -- the public health care system.
TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: Together, we are building a stronger infrastructure that will allow us to even more effectively respond to any public health emergencies in the future.
BLAKEY: For example, now that the new smallpox vaccines have been ordered, the plan is to have enough to cover everyone in America by the end of 2002.
One of the biggest medical accomplishments of the year was years in the making -- the first fully implantable artificial heart.
DR. O.H. FRAZIER, TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE: I do think this technology, having been implanted in five patents without any problems with the technology -- we've had patient problems, but no problems with the technology -- is really unique.
BLAKEY: In 2002, the makers of the device plan to implant 15 of the hearts, then evaluate if it's a viable replacement part to reduce the need for human organs.
The success in mapping the human genome has already led to the first so-called designer drugs -- treatments that target a specific faulty gene. For example, a gene-based medicine called Gleevec was approved last year for a type of leukemia after showing success where traditional cancer therapies had failed.
The drug is expected to be approved any day now for a second type of cancer -- a rare stomach cancer. Gleevec's success is ushering in a new era in cancer treatment, designing drugs to attack the specific gene defect causing the individual cancer.
DR. HARMON EYRE, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: It is a major breakthrough. On a scale of one to 10, I'd put this at an eight or a nine.
BLAKEY: President Bush's big announcement on the use of stem cells last year will be a hot button issue for lawmakers and scientists in 2002.
Expect to see more debate on what many believe could be the greatest medical advance of our time, turning these so-called blank cells into cures for illness and injury.
DR. JOSEPH ITSKOVITZ, STEM CELL RESEARCHER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) develop the new technologies that are going to revolutionize medicine.
BLAKEY: The problem with stem cells is the body can reject them if they aren't a perfect match, which brings us to cloning, another top story for 2002. Therapeutic cloning involves removing the DNA from a woman's egg and replacing it with the patient's DNA. The potential result, a microscopic embryo containing stem cells that match the patient's and can grow into healthy organs.
Supporters say they will move closer to ending many diseases with this new technology. Opponents argue it's immoral and will work in 2002 to make it illegal. Even more controversial are the actions by at least one group working outside the U.S. to create a cloned baby. They plan to do just that in 2002.
Rea Blakey, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: So where do we go next? What medical advances can we expect to see in 2002?
Well, from Boston joining us now is Dr. Jerome Kassirer. He is senior assistant to the dean at Tufts University School of Medicine, and he's also a professor adjunct of medicine at Yale University. Good morning and Happy New Year to you. Doctor, thank you much for your time today.
DR. JEROME KASSIRER, TUFTS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Nice to be with you.
HARRIS: Well first of all after seeing that report by Rea Blakey, is any other advance from last year jump out at you as one that we missed or perhaps one that you think is the most significant from last year.
KASSIRER: Well I think Rea did a wonderful job in very short time of explaining a lot of the advances happened in the past year. I would say that one other thing that has happened that she didn't mention was the attempt in recent years to do a great deal more in terms of non-invasive diagnostic testing. We did see some of that in the past year and my guess is we're going to see a lot more of that in the future.
HARRIS: You mean like with magnetic resonance imaging -- that sort of thing?
KASSIRER: Exactly. Those sorts of things that will avoid the kind of risks of the current procedures.
HARRIS: What would you then say was perhaps the most significant development on the ones you observed last year?
KASSIRER: Well I think of all the things that happened in the past year, we have to look at the bioterrorism threat as the most significant, most important in terms of our national security, and we certainly learned that we didn't know a lot about bioterrorism in particular anthrax.
HARRIS: Well do we know enough now to better prepare ourselves or to better, I guess warn ourselves of any coming threats at all? What do you think?
KASSIRER: Well I think we're still in the -- in the massive learning stage. We don't know enough about the anthrax vaccine yet. We don't know enough about how anthrax spreads. We still have a lot to learn about house defensives and that is how individual people are more susceptible -- some people more susceptible than others to even small amounts of anthrax.
HARRIS: What about -- speaking of, you know, you mentioned the way individuals react to a certain exposure to things like that. You know customizing medications with something that was brought out early last year, the idea of using genes and gene technology and gene therapies to tailor medicines for people. What do you make of the advances made there and should there be further ahead or do you think there'll be a big -- a big or major breakthrough this year on that?
KASSIRER: Well I would quote an old Arab proverb that says, "he who looks at a crystal ball eats ground glass". So I'm a little reluctant to make predictions like that. I would say that the Gleevec drug that was mentioned before is a major breakthrough -- there's no doubt about that, and I think we will see more of those in the future.
I would be a little reluctant to make big promises about that because the technology is difficult, the diseases are difficult to treat, and we'll just have to hope that we'll see more of it pretty soon.
HARRIS: All right, one last question about something that may be rather troublesome to people. Would you be betting that 2002 is the year we do see the first cloned human?
KASSIRER: I would say it's extremely unlikely.
HARRIS: Why? Oh unfortunately I can't get an answer to that question because we seem to have lost our transmission from Dr. Kassirer. Dr. Kassirer, if you can still hear us, Dr. Jerome Kassirer, we are not going to be able to continue our conversation, but we do thank you for your time today and joining us from Boston. Sorry about that folks. Live TV, that's the kind of thing that happens from time to time.
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