For the first time in history, a drug trial on a small group of cancer patients resulted in eliminating the disease in every participant. Here’s all you need to know about the remarkable achievement.
Cancer ‘disappears’ in all patients of a small pharmaceutical trial
According to New York Times, in a very small clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, 18 patients took a drug called dostarlimab for around six months, and in the end, every one of them saw their tumors disappear.
According to a report, the 18 patients had earlier undergone various treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation, and, even surgery that could result in the bowel, urinary and sexual dysfunction. Some patients had to use colostomy bags.
The findings of the experiment were published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr. of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
“There were a lot of happy tears,” stated Dr. Andrea Cerceck, the co-author of the study. She is also an oncologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Moreover, “it’s incredibly rewarding…to get these happy tears and happy emails from the patients in this study who finish treatment and realize, ‘Oh my God, I get to keep all the normal body functions that I feared I might lose to radiation or surgery,'” added Dr. Cercek.
“I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer,” added Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr.
More about the miraculous cancer drug
Dostarlimab is a drug with laboratory-produced molecules that act as substitute antibodies in the human body. The drug unmasks cancer cells, allowing the immune system to identify and destroy them.
During the trial, patients took dostarlimab every three weeks for six months. Cancer was eliminated in every patient and was undetectable through physical examination, PET Scan, MRI, or Endoscopy.
The drug is backed by pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Dr. Hanna K. Sanoff of the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study, said that while the results were “compelling” it is not yet clear if the patients are cured.
“Very little is known about the duration of time needed to find out whether a clinical complete response to dostarlimab equates to cure,” Dr. Sanoff wrote in an editorial.
