When I became a diabetic, I took a diabetes course with the Open University.
Are there any known haematology courses suitable for academically inclined patients? Alternatively, are there any suitable texts.
I have read the "Philadelphia chromosome" and I am reading "The Emperor of all maladies".
Yes I agree that an essential read is "Philadelphia Chromosome" by Jessica Wapner and I believe is still available on Amazon-if you go this route then dont forget to sign up for CML Support as your charity.I found the book to be rivetting in that so many were involved with an amazing drug that was produced to save lives and no longer did CML have to be a fatal condition as before.In addition a drug company Novartis made the unusual decision to run with trials for a drug that would have possibly only be very small market for a rare cancer;however Glivec whilst patented became one of their most profitable lines.Unless one has a background in medicine or biochemistry then the science can be challenging but one can take away what you wish or feel able to understand.Dont forget the PCR-BCR/ABL primer on the CML Support site and of course the proceedings of the annual patient Conferences are also a good source of information.Finally now with the richness of sources and articles via Google one can explore further and try to understand the complexities of blood cancer and how TKIs work.I loaned the Jessica Wapner book to my previous specialist who said that it was an essential read for all involved;my current specialist is now in mid read as well
Best wishes
John
David,
it will be really interesting to read more about development of imatinib and read their version of the story.
While reading Emperor of all maladies I was quite shocked after reading how it was developed. Making long story short it is that they did not wanted to product that drug (Dr Druker insisted and even beg them to send him some samples) because they did not saw any potential for the drug or to be more precise small market (around 180k people living in US at that time) and with huge cost of approval process.
From my side the best start is
- Emperor of all maladies - Siddhartha Mukherjee - this is one of the best book I've ever read 10/10
- Gene, an intimate history - Siddhartha Mukherjee - same author, same way of writing 10/10
--
Chris
