Florida: The United States approved the first gene therapy in the nation on Wednesday - a treatment that uses a patient`s own immune cells to fight leukemia - opening a new era in the fight against cancer.


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The treatment is made by Novartis and is called Kymriah, (tisagenlecleucel). This type of immunotherapy, known as a CAR-T cell therapy, was known by CTL019 until now.


It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for children and young adult patients up to age 25 with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).


The FDA described the approval as "a historic action" that would usher "in a new approach to the treatment of cancer and other serious and life-threatening diseases," said a statement.


Studies have shown that 83 percent of patients responded to the treatment, achieving remission within three months.


The treatment is not a pill or a form of chemotherapy. 


It uses a patient`s own immune cells, called T-cells, along with white blood cells.


These cells are removed from a patient, sent to a lab, and encoded with a viral vector, reprogrammed, and returned to the patient.