US develops drug to cure 100% of cancer

According to the radio RT (Russia), after being treated with experimental immunotherapy, rectal cancer patients have found their disease to be in remission. The results come after a small clinical trial of the drug conducted by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The study results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on June 5.

One of the trial participants, Sascha Roth, told the New York Times that she was going to Manhattan for weeks for radiation therapy, when results from Memorial Sloan Kettering announced that she was cancer-free.

“I told my family but they didn’t believe me,” Ms. Roth said.

Similar results occurred with other patients participating in the trial. Accordingly, cancer cells seem to disappear from their bodies and cannot be detected by physical examination, endoscopy, PET scan or MRI.

One of the study’s authors detailed the trial, Dr. Louis A. Diaz Jr. at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – told the New York Times that he has never seen other research on a treatment that completely cures cancer in every patient. He said: “I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer treatment.”

All of the patients participating in the trial had locally advanced rectal cancer – meaning the tumors had spread in the rectum and sometimes to the lymph nodes but not to other organs – as well as Tumors have a rare genetic mutation called a mismatch repair deficiency (MMRd).

They were treated for six months with an immunotherapy drug called Dostarlimab from GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical company that funded the study. Dostarlimab costs about $11,000 per dose and is given to patients every three weeks for six months.

Dr. David Agus, medical associate for CBS News, explains that the drug works by unmasking cancer cells so that the immune system can identify and destroy them. He said: “This new treatment is a type of immunotherapy – a treatment that blocks signals on cancer cells, allowing the immune system to eliminate them.”

The patients participating in the trial also showed no signs of cancer even after 6 months of follow-up or more. This eliminates the need for standard cancer treatments such as surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. According to the report, the cancer did not recur in any of the patients, who were now cancer-free between 6 and 25 months after the trial ended.

It’s also worth noting that none of the patients involved in the trial suffered any serious side effects from the drug, unlike those that can occur during surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. , permanent effects on fertility, health sexuality as well as bowel and bladder function.

After the trial’s encouraging success, the researchers agreed that the trial should be replicated in a much larger study. The small study, the researchers said, only focused on patients with a rare genetic marker in the tumor. However, the 100% remission rate in these patients is a promising sign.

The next trial is expected to involve about 30 patients, which will provide a better picture of the safety and effectiveness of the new drug.