From Dying to Drumming : 8-Year-Old Girl Healed from Leukemia with Groundbreaking Treatment

Simi Drenger has become the first child to achieve complete remission from leukemia after being treated with innovative CAR-T cell therapy, which was developed at Sheba Medical Center.

The cancer-stricken 8-year-old girl from Bnei Brak, Israel had not responded to traditional chemotherapy cancer treatments and was very ill. “The chemotherapy not only wasn’t working, but its side effects created holes in parts of her stomach, which made things even worse. There really wasn’t any other alternative than to try something new and different,” Simi’s father Yisroel explained.

Sheba doctors turned to a cutting-edge treatment, CAR-T cell therapy, which used Simi's own T-cells - taken from her immune system - and genetically engineered in a laboratory to produce special receptors called Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CAR), which were then reinfused back into Simi's body.

Sheba’s Pediatric Hemato-Oncology Department and the Ella Lemelbaum Institute of Immuno-Oncology, introduced the CAR T-cell therapy, becoming one of a handful of medical centers in the world to produce these kinds of cells to utilize this innovative treatment successfully, within the context of clinical (i.e. experimental) trials.

“We have the advantage of making our own cells, as well as conducting the research and clinical trials within our labs, independent of any pharmaceutical company in Israel or the USA,” revealed Dr. Michal Besser, who heads the laboratory. “We have actually been conducting clinical trials and researching T-cell therapy for several decades. With the remission of 75% of highly advanced lymphoma and leukemia patients, who failed all standard treatments, we believe that this type of therapy will be the platform to combat other forms of cancer, as well as other diseases in the near future.”

For Simi, the results were almost miraculous.  “After a month of using ‘biologics’ or CAR T-cell therapy, we began to see a huge change for the better almost without any harsh side effects. She started to get stronger and be active like most children her age. We look forward to seeing her return to school soon,” Yisroel said. Today, Simi is enjoying the drums in the music room of The Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital at Sheba as she waits for her final release from the hospital.

Overall, CAR-T-cell therapy has achieved a 75% positive response rate in 17 patients (children and adults) who have been treated at Sheba Medical Center, and who had previously failed to respond to conventional cancer treatments.