2023-04-19 10:46:00
Medicine continues to take steps forward to find solutions in the fight against cancer: two drugs approved by the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Technology (ANMAT) were presented by specialists in oncology to combat two subtypes of tumors.
It’s all about the drug Encorafenib, presented by the Pfizer laboratory and available in Argentina to counteract the effects of two nodules: one is metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) and the other is unresectable or metastatic melanoma.
Oncology specialists Juan Manuel O’Connor, Head of the Gastrointestinal Tumors Unit of the Alexander Fleming Private Institute of Oncology; and Gabriela Cinat, Head of the Melanoma and Sarcoma Functional Unit of the Angel Oncology Institute. H. Roffo from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), presented the results of the drugs in the therapies available to combat tumors.
In the first instance, metastatic colorectal cancer affects the colon or rectum with a genetic alteration of the gene (BRAF), and for which “there was no specific treatment scheme in Argentina.” The BRAF V600E genetic mutation persistently activates a pathway – called MAPK – that can stimulate the growth and proliferation of tumor cells.
On the other hand, unresectable or metastatic melanoma is directly related to moles and skin cancer, that can change color and size, where a genetic alteration of the BRAF gene also develops.
What the drug Encorafenib does is “inhibit” the action of the MAPK pathway. In the case of CRC, the treatment would consist of attacking the abnormal tissue mass with the drug cetuximab, which fights the epidermal protein (EGFR) and which favors the growth and multiplication of malignant cells.
In the case of unresectable or metastatic melanoma, the specialists’ indication is to combat it under treatment together with binimetinib, a medication that inhibits the functioning of the MEK1 and MEK2 proteins that favors the development of cancer units.
It should be noted that the drugs can be applied orally; while cetuximab -useful for fighting colorectal cancer- must be given intravenously. The drugs represent an objective response rate “10 times higher than that achieved with standard medication,” the specialists described. In this context, they added that “overall survival (OS) was higher: 8.4 months versus 5.4 months in the control group and the median progression-free survival (SPL) achieved was 4.2 months versus 1.5 months”.
O’Connor, the specialist in gastrointestinal tumors, highlighted the advancement of medicine with drugs to combat two specific tumors and “to be able to count on new therapeutic options directed by biomarkers, as in this case, allows for a greater probability of response and greater clinical benefit for the patient”.
Regarding metastatic colorectal cancer -with 16,000 cases detected per year and more than 7,000 deaths- O’Connor maintained that the disease represents “the second cause in incidence and mortality within the different tumors”, of which there was not “a specific treatment scheme”, and with the recent availability of drug combinations it represents “advances” to obtain a “greater probability of response” in patients.
On the other hand, Cinat, the expert in Melanoma cases, mentioned that These are “very important” advances in recent years, added to “new treatment options that may exceed the efficacy and/or improve the tolerance of already established treatments.”
The specialist remarked that the combination of drugs for the treatment “has clearly demonstrated its efficacy” and that “its toxicity profile would seem to be, in general terms, more tolerable than the others, especially for flu-like symptoms or skin reactions.
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