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Core Topics => Drugs => Alcohol & Tobacco => Topic started by: Chip on October 10, 2016, 07:42:02 PM

Title: * New wonder drug is ‘melting’ lung cancer, experts say it’s a ‘game-changer’
Post by: Chip on October 10, 2016, 07:42:02 PM
source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/keytruda-new-wonder-drug-is-melting-cancer-experts-say-its-a-gamechanger/news-story/33cedd3cd20080fb33ce4cf38c67d438

Keytruda: New wonder drug is ‘melting’ cancer, experts say it’s a ‘game-changer’

A MIRACLE drug that saves lives by “dissolving” cancer without any chemotherapy has been successful in NSW trials.

Patients are not only living longer but are living better, free of chemotherapy’s nasty side-effects.

Westmead Hospital oncologist Associate Professor Rina Hui said the drug, Keytruda, “melted away” cancer.

“What we are seeing is a real game-changer for the way we will treat lung cancer, the No. 1 cancer killer in the world,” she said. “We have really provided fresh hope to these people. It is truly an exciting and amazing time.”

Professor Hui’s patients were part of a global study into lung cancer and Keytruda, currently used successfully with melanoma patients.

During the trial the drug stopped lung cancer spreading in almost half the patients after 12 months, making it three times more effective than chemotherapy.

The study was run with patients whose advanced cancer had spread outside their lungs and they had high levels of a marker that indicated their cancer cells were “disguised” as healthy cells.

Keytruda takes away the “camouflage” and empowers the immune system to seek out and attack the cells.

“This drug acts in a very amazing way. It takes away the blindfold, it releases the brake on the patient’s own immune system and they fight the cancer,” Professor Hui said.

The groundbreaking results were presented overnight at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Copenhagen.

(https://forum.drugs-and-users.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsapi.com.au%2Fimage%2Fv1%2F7771305d3acc192a4ab2d4cbec0e7d86%3Fwidth%3D650&hash=b7e3a39650e3a04b4c2c24a563e1740a269459b1)
PET scans which show a recovery from cancer after being treated with the Keytruda drug.

One in five cancer deaths in Australia is due to lung cancer with only 1 to 2 per cent of sufferers surviving beyond five years. “This drug has shown stage four lung cancer patients with a specific marker have a 70 per cent chance of living past 12 months without any need for chemotherapy treatment,” Professor Hui said.

“Normally the patient has chemotherapy but even if they respond to that, it doesn’t last very long whereas the beauty of this drug is those patients who respond do so for a very long time.” The results will be unveiled today at Westmead Hospital’s Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre.

Michael Gordon’s life was saved by Keytruda, which has kept him alive for more than two years since he was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer. The disease had spread to the lining of 65-year-old’s but his body is now cancer-free.
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