The Five Revolutions in Cancer Treatment

Jonathan Lim

We are at the beginning of a new era for how we treat one of humankind’s oldest and worst foes—cancer. In this talk, given at the annual a16z Summit, Jonathan Lim, CEO and cofounder of Erasca, shows us where we are in cancer treatment today, what’s working and what’s not, and what’s on the horizon. Lim, a physician-turned-entrepreneur shares the five big revolutions and latest scientific advances creating an enormous breakthrough in how we treat this disease.

Video highlights:

  • Dr. Jonathan Lim shares how his surgical background in cancer treatment lead him to where he is today [0:35]
  • The story of Patrick, a cancer researcher in precision medicine, and his personal battle with cancer [2:17]
  • How Ignyta and Patrick’s legacy live on in precision medicine today [3:51]
  • Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy as the first revolution in cancer treatment [4:13]
  • How genomically targeted therapies work [5:27]
  • A case study on genetically targeted therapy: Mr. Z [6:15]
  • Advances in cancer immunotherapy [8:23]
  • How checkpoint inhibitors function to target tumors [9:06]
  • A case study in cancer immunotherapy advances: President Jimmy Carter [9:32]
  • A brief examination of the pros and cons of the second and third revolutions in cancer treatment [11:13]
  • What ecDNA targeted therapy is, and its potential function as the “missing link” in cancer treatment [11:32]
  • Food as medicine: A low tech approach to treating cancer through metabolic therapies [13:15]
  • A case study on nutritional therapy in advanced stage lymphoma [14:02]

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