President Carter Celebrates 100th Birthday: A Testament to the Power of Immunotherapy

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the U.S., cancer survivor, and immunotherapy advocate, celebrates his 100^th birthday on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. The Associated Press has reported President Carter’s centennial will be marked with an Atlanta concert and the construction of 30 new homes—an ode to his years of philanthropic work. A melanoma survivor who publicly announced his diagnosis and immunotherapy treatment in 2015, he has been in hospice care since February 2023 but has defied all odds to become the first U.S. head of state to live to 100. 

Over the past decade, immunotherapy has catapulted into the public consciousness as the fourth pillar of cancer treatment—a personalized, powerful, and predictable way to treat cancer. A significant part of immunotherapy’s rise into the public discourse was the successful treatment of President Carter. 

President Carter Ushers Immunotherapy into the Mainstream 

In August of 2015, he discovered that there was a melanoma lesion on his liver. Though this initial mass was removed, it was subsequently discovered to have spread to four different areas in his brain. 

President Carter’s doctors took a bold initiative for treating his cancer. An immunotherapy treatment called pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) had only earned U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2014, the year before President Carter’s diagnosis. 

A mere few months after he revealed his melanoma diagnosis, President Carter was declared cancer-free in December 2015. This remarkable outcome demonstrated immunotherapy’s lifesaving potential but also gave hope to countless others who battle cancer around the world. The immunotherapy field has continued to blossom and can now target 29 types of cancer and treat 45 percent of all patients. In 2016, CRI launched its first immunotherapy summit, connecting cancer patients and caregivers with immunotherapy clinical trials and experts.

Keytruda®, at the Forefront of Immunotherapy’s Ascendancy 

Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, director, Tumor Immunology Program, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center; director, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Center at UCLA; CRI Scientific Advisory Council member; CRI Clinical Leadership Committee member; and leader of the CRI-SU2C Dream Team, was the lead investigator for the phase I trial of Keytruda®. The treatment is now on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. 

“Approximately one-third of patients with advanced melanoma have an immune system that was trying to attack the cancer but was being turned off by the cancer,” Dr. Ribas said in 2015. “When giving (Keytruda®) it unleashes this immune response and leads to long lasting responses in these patients. Age is not a limitation to achieving this benefit.” 

Leading up to its FDA approval, Keytruda® proved very effective in combating advanced melanoma. Following four rounds of Keytruda® treatment in tandem with radiation therapy, his doctors declared that President Carter no longer had metastasized melanoma. 

The Ripple Effect of President Carter’s Immunotherapy Revelation 

In January 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden launched the U.S. government’s ‘Cancer Moonshot,’ an initiative featuring immunotherapy at the core of its mission to increase the pace of scientific progress against cancer. Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, PhD, former CRI CEO and Director of Scientific Affairs, participated in advisory panel discussions on the Moonshot’s public rollout and research strategy.  

“The National Cancer Moonshot Initiative is working to accelerate lifesaving cancer research, including an in-depth investigation into the promising field of cancer immunotherapy, by breaking down barriers to progress with enhanced access to data and by facilitating collaboration between patient advocacy groups, health care professionals, and other major stakeholders,” Dr. O’Donnell-Tormey wrote in February 2016. 

President Carter’s courage to be so public with his cancer diagnosis and treatment was instrumental to introducing immunotherapy to wide swathes of society. To see such a prominent figure in his 90s receive a type of treatment that many people had never heard of opened the eyes of many doctors, patients, caregivers, and families. 

When President Carter publicly triumphed over his metastasized melanoma, it illuminated the life-saving potential of immunotherapy treatment to the public. In fact, CRI ImmunoAdvocates Matilde Quintana and Barbara Bigelow, cancer survivors who make themselves available to talk with current patients, have stated that they learned about the potential benefits of immunotherapy for their own diagnoses after learning about President Carter’s successful treatment. 

The 39th U.S. president might be most known for his presidential term from 1977 to 1981, or for dedicated community service while in his 90s. President Carter can certainly add shining a spotlight on cancer immunotherapy to his lengthy legacy and has emphatically brought us all closer to a world immune to cancer.