Sean Parker, Co-Founder of Napster, Pledges $250 Million to Cancer Immunotherapy Research
Billionaire technology entrepreneur Sean Parker is giving his contribution for the sake of cancer research, pledging $250 million specifically for the immunotherapy cancer study. The co-founder of the popular file sharing computer service called Napster is putting his money to two prospective cancer treatments which are described as the most promising ones.
The 36-year old talked about his pledge in a press conference recently held in Los Angeles, California. The two treatments that will benefit from his donation are immune checkpoint inhibitors and cell therapy.
According to USA Today, the $250 million dollar donation will be distributed to six cancer centers in the U.S., including the leading ones in Stanford and the Memorial Sloan Kettering in Manhattan. Parker, also the founding president of social networking giant, Facebook, believes that the cancer immune therapy is at a turning point and the money invested in it will be worth it.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
By definition, immunotherapy works by improving the immune system of the body for it to be able to kill the cancer cells. There have been quite a number of cancer patients who have attested that they no longer carry with them any cancer cells after undergoing immune-based drug procedures.
For cell therapy in particular, a cancer patient's t-cells will be obtained and then modified. After that, the same will be re-deployed to the body in order to kill the tumors. Generally speaking, it is by far the most advanced study and prospective treatment for a disease that is killing more people than any other sickness. Immune checkpoint inhibitors on the other hand are drugs that enable the body to use its natural defenses to take a shot at a substantially wider range of cells than they usually do.
While there has been significant progress in the industry of treatment research for cancer, the number of people dying because of it is still on the rise.
