Even people who have never heard that term usually know it was “the Jimmy Carter drug” that helped save his life. The Food and Drug Administration approved the first immunotherapy drug, called Yervoy, just four years earlier, in 2011. Jimmy Carter talks about his cancer diagnosis during a news conference at The Carter Center in Atlanta in 2015. Varying forms of immunotherapy are used to treat a wide variety of cancers, including lung cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, head and neck cancer and some rare forms of colon cancer. Colleagues who treated Carter were “immensely grateful” for his contribution in raising awareness of immunotherapy, Ramalingam said.

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Persons: Jimmy Carter, ”, Carter’s, Adam Friedman, Carter, ’, “ I’ve, ” Carter, I’ll, Keytruda wasn’t greenlighted, hadn’t, Amod, Sarnaik, Phil Skinner, Michael Davies, Suresh Ramalingam, Ramalingam wasn’t, ” Ramalingam, “ We’re, ” Sarnaik, “, Davies, Ramalingam Organizations: George Washington University, Drug Administration, Moffitt Cancer, The Carter, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, NYU Langone Health Locations: Tampa , Florida, Atlanta, Houston