2021: And So It begins

So here we are. 2021.

I know lots of people are hoping that turning the calendar will mean a whole new world. I sure hope so -- at least a little bit new, if not "whole" new. I have a few fairly big changes coming up. My oldest, who had been living with us since the pandemic started, left this morning to move to another state, about 6 hours away. We'll miss him. My other two kids will be going back to school in a few weeks. More things to worry about.

On the other hand, lots of things will stay the same. And that's OK, too. There are good things happening in my life, even if there are lots of bad things happening around me too. I hope that's true for you, too. 

So as I was trying to decide what to write about for my first post of 2021, I thought about the mood that I should go for.

Something big and exciting, since it's the new year, and we should start off with some excitement?

Maybe something dark, to capture the overall mood these days?

No, I'm going with a small bit of god news -- the FDA's approval of Riabni, a Rituxan biosimilar. 

A quick lesson in what a biosimilar is:

Some cancer treatments are chemicals. They are made from non-living things. Other are biologicals. They are made from living things.

Chemical treatments are relatively easy to create. The chemistry provides a kind of recipe. Add the right ingredients in the right way, and you get the treatment. It's fairly easy to copy.

Biologicals are harder to copy, since they are made with living parts. A lot more can go wrong. I like to think of it this way -- a chemical treatment is like making a cake, where you go to the store and buy the eggs and flour and other ingredients. You follow the recipe and you have a cake. 

But a biological is different. Same recipe to follow, but imaging you have to grow the wheat for the flour, and raise the chickens for the eggs. Still possible to bake the cake, but with those living ingredients, there is a lot more chance for things to go wrong.

Rituxan is biological -- it's made using mice. There's a long process that goes into it, but it's basically trying to mimic a part of the immune system, so it needs some living parts.

A biosimilar is to a biological treatment what a generic is to a chemical drug. It's a copy of the original -- as safe and effective (if it is approved by something like the FDA, which makes sure this is the case), but hopefully less expensive, since the company who makes it didn't need to put millions and millions of dollars into researching and development and marketing. (Riabni will cost about 23% less than Rituxan.)

So there you have it --  my first post of 2021. Nothing ground-breaking or earth-shattering. And nothing dire and sad. 

Just a small victory for some Follicular Lymphoma patients, who may be able to pay a little bit less for their treatment. 

I'll take that -- small victories for all of us. Moving forward, even if it's in tiny steps. Living a life that's just a little bit better than it was before.

I look forward to celebrating more small victories with you all this year.