on June 12, 2022 at 1:29 p.m.
June 12, 2022 at 1:09 PM
A study published on Sunday June 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine has a 100% success rate in a clinical trial of a rectal cancer drug. Results that show real hope.
This is remarkable progress. A clinical trial of a drug against rectal cancer gives rise to real hope for patients. The success rate is 100%. This new drug has been tested on 12 patients as reported by the New England Journal of Medicine. The American researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who are behind this study, are very surprised by the results: “I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer”says Dr. Luis Diaz.
“Great optimism”
Colorectal cancers, including that of the rectum, constitute the second type of cancer the most common in women and the third in men. In this study, the researchers looked at one of its forms in particular, the one with a genetic mutation called MMrD or “mismatch repair deficit”. These tumors tend to be less sensitive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.
Until now, this kind of treatment was not really part of routine colorectal cancer care. As it happens, dostarlimab is mainly used in the treatment of endometrial cancer. But the results of this new research work “are a source of great optimism”according to Dr. Sanoff.
Colorectal cancer: what is this miracle drug?
Specifically, it is a drug that acts “not by directly attacking the cancer itself, but by making sure that a person’s immune system does most of the work“, explains Dr. Hanna Sanoff, of the University of North Carolina. Dostarlimab was administered every three weeks to the 12 patients, over a period of six months. This treatment was originally intended be followed by chemotherapy and standard surgery, but six months after stopping the drug, the cancer was gone. Today, two years after the trial, the participants have not experienced a recurrence, had no surgery or needed chemo or radiation therapy. A real feat in the field!
Without chemo and taking only one drug, Dostarlimab, 12 patients with rectal cancer saw their tumor completely disappear. This clinical trial launched by a cancer center in New York consisted of taking a drug every 3 weeks for 6 months. pic.twitter.com/2GpHZSiWeM
— AJ+ French (@ajplusfrancais) June 11, 2022