Cardinal George taken off experimental cancer treatment

Cardinal Francis George, who retired last month after Archbishop Blase Cupich was installed as his successor, has been dropped from the clinical trial group that was being given an antibody drug to contain or reduce cancer, the archdiocesan press office announced Wednesday.

Recent scans showed that this experimental drug has not been effective in his case, the office said. The cardinal will meet with his physicians at Loyola University Hospital in January to discuss how best to address some of the side effects of his cancer, which so far has not spread to vital organs, the office said.

The cardinal, who was the spiritual leader of more than 2 million Roman Catholics in Cook and Lake counties for 17 years, recovered from bladder cancer in 2006 after doctors removed his bladder and prostate.

But in August 2012, it was announced that doctors had found cancerous cells in his kidney and liver. He then underwent chemotherapy.

Last March, the archdiocese announced the cardinal was starting another round of chemotherapy to address signs of cancer returning to the area around his right kidney. He also was hospitalized that month with the flu.

In August, the archdiocese announced that he was trying an experimental drug as part of a clinical trial at the University of Chicago. In September, the cardinal began using crutches because of an infection to his right foot. The cardinal had polio at age 13, which left his legs damaged.