Health Policy InsightIt’s natural to focus on breakthroughs, but there are many challenges in Britain and around the world. There is no magic bullet, but there’s room for optimism
Cancer causes nearly one in six deaths worldwide every year, some 10 million all told. That is a stunning number, but it also masks the reality that some cancers are more deadly than others. We have become remarkably good at detecting and treating melanoma and prostate cancer, for example, and today five-year survival rates for those cancers are well over 90% in most rich countries. Others, such as pancreatic cancer, are more difficult. In the UK, just over one in 20 people with pancreatic cancer are still alive five years after diagnosis.
That is why a new drug for pancreatic cancer, called daraxonrasib and announced at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago at the weekend, has been met with such jubilation. The drug – taken as a pill once a day – doubled the survival time of those enrolled in a 500-person trial, with fewer side effects compared to traditional chemotherapy. The drug works by shutting down a protein, Kras, that causes cancer cells to grow and divide. One longtime cancer researcher reported that she cried reading the results. With so few effective treatments for this cancer available, the drug is likely to be a real game-changer.
Continue reading...Pat Brogan preparing to walk his daughter down the aisle after trial of treatment designed to stop disease from hiding
• Smart drug that strips cancer cells of ‘invisibility cloak’ can shrink tumours by 30%, trial shows
One of the first patients to benefit from a pioneering smart drug that appears to melt away the “invisibility cloak” that can shield cancer cells from treatment is Pat Brogan, from Cowdenbeath, Scotland.
The 68-year-old, whose tumours have shrunk by almost a third, is preparing to walk his daughter down the aisle this month and holiday in Spain with his wife, Linda – milestones he once feared he would never reach.
Continue reading...Experimental tablet produces encouraging results in patients with world’s most common forms of disease
• ‘I was getting ready to say goodbye’: patient’s hope after smart drug success
A smart drug that stops cancer cells “hiding” from treatment can shrink tumours by at least 30% in six of the world’s most common forms of the disease, early trial results show.
While immunotherapy treatments have improved survival rates for many patients, their effectiveness can stall or fail when tumour cells hide and then spread.
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