Dear Subscriber, 
When I founded Rational Therapeutics in 1993, our primary focus was to test patients' cancer cells against a number of chemotherapeutic agents to determine the drug or combination most likely to kill their cancer. My team and I worked with the chemical weapons available to all oncologists and, although flawed in many ways, chemotherapy provided the best option for treating cancer. Today, as science progresses and our understanding of cancer evolves, we are able to test new compounds in the treatment of cancer patients. "Targeted therapies" are classes of drugs that focus on specific pathways considered tumorigenic (tending to produce tumors). This type of treatment is more sophisticated in killing cancer and has proven to produce far fewer side effects. To learn more about these leading-edge therapies and how patients can have their samples tested against targeted agents at Rational Therapeutics, review these articles.
We are committed to staying at the forefront of cancer treatment.
Have a happy and healthy holiday season,  Dr. Robert Nagourney Rational Therapeutics
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My Grandpa's Treatment - Functional Profiling from a Child
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Sometimes it takes a child to make a concept understandable. The following article was written by eighth grade Oak Middle School (Los Alamitos, CA) student Chad Kesky, about the functional profile his grandfather received from Rational Therapeutics in 2008. Rational Therapeutics is a company that provides assay testing which is a very effective way for treating cancer. The doctor (Dr. Robert Nagourney) believes that every cancer is different and must be approached differently. They don't just open the book and look up the type of cancer, look up the drugs commonly used to treat this cancer, and throw those drugs at it based on the probability of success. That is how most regular oncologists would treat cancer, sometimes this works, but Rational Therapeutics believes that assay tests are much more effective. Doctor Nagourney believes, based on his science, that he can provide a more personalized specific treatment to an individual's cancer.In my grandpa's case, Dr. Nagourney took a live tissue cell sample of the cancerous tumor and tested different drugs to see which would be effective in the laboratory. My grandpa had a very serious, very aggressive cancer called Merkel Cell cancer that was a stage IV cancer. Dr. Nagourney found that the standard drugs used to treat Merkel Cell were ineffective in the lab and found some combinations of older medications that his cancer was very sensitive and responsive to. My grandpa was very sick when he began treatment and was on pain medication every minute of the day. The pain was so bad he couldn't even sleep in his own bed at night; he had to spend every night sleepless in his recliner. As soon as the chemotherapy started, the very first week he was pain free and able to sleep in bed for the first time in months. This was a very good sign. The next PET scan my grandpa had showed a complete response to chemotherapy. Over the next several months the treatment had gone only uphill, until the point where the doctors were having trouble finding traces of the cancer.Roy lost his battle with cancer in 2009, but his family thanks Rational Therapeutics for giving him a pain-free year with his wife, children and grandchildren. Read more about patients and families whose lives have been touched by Rational Therapeutics.
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Your Laughs Help Patients
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 | Dr. Robert Nagourney and a group of his patients smile for the camera after an evening of great food, fundraising and lots of laughs.
On Saturday, October 23, more than 485 people came together at the Laughter is not Contagious, But Cancer is! fundraising event hosted by Steven's Steak and Seafood House. The event was a great success, raising $50,000 to support the work of the Vanguard Cancer Foundation.
Thank you to the Filipan family for their generosity and creativity in organizing and hosting this event.
More photos from that great night are available on the Rational Therapeutics' Facebook page.
To find out how you can host an event and name the Vanguard Cancer Foundation as your charity of choice, please contact Kim Yap at yapkimberly@aol.com. Or visit www.vanguardcancerfoundation.org for more information about the Foundation. |
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Avastin
| Recently, there has been a lot of media attention focused on the drug Avastin. With the FDA threatening to pull its approval for breast cancer patients, a lot of people are asking, "WHY?"
Dr. Nagourney takes to his blog to answer the question: "What's wrong with Avastin?"
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New Book Talks Functional Profile
| In his latest book Customized Cancer Treatment, Ralph W. Moss, PhD, discusses laboratory tests that can save cancer patients' lives. Dr. Moss, who previously penned Cancer Therapy, Herbs Against Cancer, Questioning Chemotherapy and The Cancer Industry, takes another look at what's working (and what isn't) with today's treatments.

Rational Therapeutics patient, Pat Merwin says, "I just read Customized Cancer Treatment and found it breathtaking. This book should be required reading for everyone." Before deciding what treatment is best for you, know your options.
Copies of Customized Cancer Treatment are now available at Rational Therapeutics. Please call 562.989.6455 to order your copy today.
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We're on Facebook
| Keep up-to-date with news, events and announcements from Rational Therapeutics and the Vanguard Cancer Foundation.
Looking for a way to spread the word about assay-directed therapy? Facebook makes it easy! Just "share" your favorite posts and videos with friends. And don't forget, keep those comments coming! We love to hear from you.

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Hope Practiced Here
Read patient stories and learn about the advances at Rational Therapeutics.
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