Wed, Nov 5, 2025 at 12:00 AM

Today’s fight against cancer sees many more successes thanks to new treatments

Oncologists have witnessed astonishing advancements in treating cancer during the past two decades. These developments have led to better survival rates, more personalized treatment plans that are less harmful to healthy cells, and more effective management for many types of cancer.

Major ones include the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the immune system to fight cancer, as well as targeted treatments that use drugs to specifically attack cancer cells based on their genetic makeup, which reduces side effects in patients.

“The tool kit we have available to treat cancer has changed a lot even since I started practicing 15 years ago,” said Dr. Jonathan Storey, oncologist at the Marshall Cancer Care Center and the vice president of medical affairs for Marshall Medical Centers, where he serves as liaison between hospital administration and physicians.

“We have hundreds of different cancer treatments now. We have hundreds of different chemotherapy drugs. We also have newer treatments including immunotherapies. They options are far-ranging and all are different.”

While the overall goal of treating cancer is to cure it, many recent advancements focus on managing the disease to improve the patient’s quality of life and extend survival, particularly in later stages. For some cancers, especially advanced ones, the focus often shifts from a complete cure to a long-term management strategy.

“Our biggest victories in cancer have less to do with curing than with turning cancers into chronic disease, making a cancer not too different than treating high blood pressure and diabetes,” Dr. Storey said. “Those are the biggest successes I’ve seen over my career. My hope is that over time the chronic disease model will be an option for more and more patients.”

Immunotherapy has become the second or third biggest treatment against cancer because it harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight back.

“I believe we’re curing patients today we were not curing a decade ago,” he said. “Most of these successes are owed to immunotherapy.” “These treatments have been revolutionary,” said Dr. Storey. ”They have none of the side effects of chemo. The vast majority of patients have no side effects. It’s a wonderful relief to have them available to us. They don’t work for everybody. When they are an option they’re an amazing treatment.”

Targeted therapies – another big gun in the oncology arsenal - are specifically tailored to the cancer and the patient. Because of that, they also have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.

The Cancer Care Center opened in 2013 and the patient count has steadily grown over the past 12 years. In the very large treatment centers, oncologists typically specialize in one type of cancer and they treat that type all day. Locally, though, doctors almost have to be experts in many forms of cancers.

“I would argue that community oncologists like myself are specialists of the more common cancers – breast, colon, lung, lymphomas, blood cancers – we see a lot of volume of those. We have a lot of experience with those common community cancers every day.”

“Our increased success in cancer is due to incremental improvements. Over time we’ve taken those smaller advances, adding up one after another. Stacking those together has made a huge difference. It’s a real difference that I can feel every day in our clinic.”

Prostate cancer is an excellent example. There are new pills, shots, and new targeted treatments. Dr. Storey said that now it is common to see a prostate cancer patient who is doing well 5 or 10 years after their diagnosis. The same is true for many breast cancer patients. Those patients are increasingly managing better and surviving longer. Significant gains are also being seen in colon cancer. Even some patients with previously incurable lung cancers are doing well years later.

Even with all the good outcomes resulting from research and development, it remains true that not everyone survives cancer. Even today’s best treatments do not work for everybody. They just improve chances for many.

“In my office, I’m very short on guarantees,” he said. “We do the best we can and we hope for the best. We have positive attitudes but not too many guarantees.”

One thing that helps is the environment in the Cancer Care Center, Dr. Storey said. Seeing folks come in for treatment with smiles on their faces, friendly greetings and hugs for the staff makes it possible for the physicians to stay positive and focus on fighting the good fight.

“Patients have these fabulous positive attitudes,” he said. “There’s this sense of hope that runs through the whole place. It’s actually an extraordinarily positive and rewarding place to work.”