Posted on Jun 8, 2022
This experimental drug could change the field of cancer research
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https://www.npr.org/2022/06/07/ [login to see] /cancer-drug-experimental-rectal-chemotherapy-surgery-treatment-immunotherapy
A tiny group of people with rectal cancer just experienced something of a scientific miracle: their cancer simply vanished after an experimental treatment.
In a very small trial done by doctors at New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, patients took a drug called dostarlimab for six months. The trial resulted in every single one of their tumors disappearing. The trial group included just 18 people, and there's still more to be learned about how the treatment worked. But some scientists say these kinds of results have never been seen in the history of cancer research.
Dr. Hanna Sanoff of the University of North Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center joined NPR's All Things Considered to outline how this drug works and what it could mean for the future of cancer research. Although she was not involved with the study, Dr. Sanoff has written about the results.
A tiny group of people with rectal cancer just experienced something of a scientific miracle: their cancer simply vanished after an experimental treatment.
In a very small trial done by doctors at New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, patients took a drug called dostarlimab for six months. The trial resulted in every single one of their tumors disappearing. The trial group included just 18 people, and there's still more to be learned about how the treatment worked. But some scientists say these kinds of results have never been seen in the history of cancer research.
Dr. Hanna Sanoff of the University of North Carolina's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center joined NPR's All Things Considered to outline how this drug works and what it could mean for the future of cancer research. Although she was not involved with the study, Dr. Sanoff has written about the results.
This experimental drug could change the field of cancer research
Posted from npr.org
Medical
Health
Drugs
Pharmaceuticals
Cancer
Posted 2 y ago
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Our son-in-law works for an outfit who promote funding for cancer research and arrange for trials in this regard. He is cautiously optimistic about more efficacious outcomes.
Rich
Rich
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."On next steps for the drug:
What I'd really like us to do is get a bigger trial where this drug is used in a much more diverse setting to understand what the real, true response rate is going to be. It's not going to end up being 100 percent. I hope I bite my tongue on that in the future, but I can't imagine it will be 100 percent. And so when we see what the true response rate is, that's when I think we can really do this all the time."
..."On next steps for the drug:
What I'd really like us to do is get a bigger trial where this drug is used in a much more diverse setting to understand what the real, true response rate is going to be. It's not going to end up being 100 percent. I hope I bite my tongue on that in the future, but I can't imagine it will be 100 percent. And so when we see what the true response rate is, that's when I think we can really do this all the time."
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