Thanks for the link.

The AA Gill lesson is that you want your cancer diagnosed early. His was a metastasis which means it's already the most advanced/serious stage. Men are notoriously poor at picking up things early. Routine checkups? Pah, sissy stuff. Digital exam up your behind? No, I'm fine. Just give me a blood test.

FWIW, I have personal (family) experience of cancer treatment in France, which was rated best in the world at the time for that sort of cancer. Also FWIW, we're well overdue for new cancer treatments. AA Gill's platinum chemotherapy was discovered in 1965: ask yourself what other medicine class has not been retired in favor of better alternatives, after over half a century.

As for Nivolumab: it sounds as if he did meet the US FDA approved use guidelines. However, not all insurers and plans offer this drug in the US either at the currently approved doses costing (say) $300K/year or especially with higher doses currently being trialed costing $1M/year. Payers who will shell out for this sort of Rx, obviously need to raise their prices to fund it. Might be an interesting exercise for insured UTers to check whether their plan covers it. ;-) Medicare recipients might consider their co-pay and whether they can afford it- e.g. a 20% co-pay on a regime costing $1M is a big pile of cash. The suppliers offer assistance and grants to help people get going but it would be a lot more helpful to lower the astronomical prices that they justify by quoting the billions spent getting a good drug to market.