New Drug Has Potential To Beat Cancer

New Drug Has Potential To Beat Cancer investors.com Of course, this is still not enough to consider the drug a cure for cancer, but it’s a good start. The drug has only been out since 2011, so there’s no long-term efficacy studies, meaning its unclear whether or not Waag’s cancer will come back, or even if the drug is the reason that it is gone. Still, most patients diagnosed with melanoma are given a year to live at the most, so to be two years cancer free after such a diagnosis is nothing short of a miracle. The drug has been tested before and showed that 40 percent of patients survived at least three more years due to treatment, while 10 percent of patients showed no evidence of cancer whatsoever after treatment. According to Waag’s oncologist, Dr. Lynn Schuchter, “The prospect that more and more patients will be cured is becoming a reality.” And when most patients hear the word cancer and immediately believe it’s a death sentence, drugs like this might just change everything. Cancer experts are even getting excited about this, and now believe that diagnoses such as these will no longer be death sentences. According to the White House, this positive movement is referred to as an “inflection point.” And there’s plenty of incentive to keep the ball moving as well. In his last State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama urged scientists and researchers to “cure cancer once and for all” in a $1 billion initiative meant to inspire some of the most brilliant minds to cure one of the most deadly diseases. Since then, many companies have also joined in the initiative, and many humanitarians are continuously donating funds to cancer research. And for good reason cancer is still the top killer in about half of the U.S. And with such success stories as we see with Waag, it’s hard not to believe that we have something that could change the way the public views cancer. According to Dr. Daniel Hayes, the new ASCO president, “It makes us wonder if we can use the word ‘cure.’” The ASCO meeting will also cover many different studies, including ways to attack cancer through the use of immunotherapy. And recently, Bristol Myers Squibb created a rival drug to Merck’s Keytruda, Opdivo, that works by “blocking a protein tumor’s use to evade detection by the immune system,” according to NBC News. Roche Holding AG is also hot on their tail, with a similar drug known as Tecentriq in the works, which would be used to treat bladder cancer and has just gotten U.S. regulatory approval. According to Fouad Namouni, the head of medical research at Bristol Myers, “We are raising the bar for overall survival.” And this exactly what’s happening. The new drug known as Opdivo has shown that 23 percent of patients with advanced lung cancer were still alive two years after beginning the drug. This is compared to the 8 percent that would be alive through standard chemotherapy. These success rates have everyone giddy, and researchers are now working to combine different immunotherapy agents to hopefully increase those survival percentages. On top of this, researchers still need to determine why the immunotherapy is working on some and not on others. Plus, dosages and duration have yet to be determined. Right now, it’s a lot of trial and error. In the most recent Keytruda study, melanoma was actually worse in the patients that stopped treatment. Due to this, Waag is afraid to stop. Waag is a retired engineering professor from the University of Rochester in New York, and was first diagnosed with melanoma in 1998. At this point, the skin lesions were removed and he went the next 13 years of his life cancer free. In his own words, “Then it came back and with a vengeance.” That’s when the immunotherapy was called for, and it worked. But now, when to stop using it? Waag doesn’t experience any side effects, as do many other patients. But some experience liver inflammation and other immune system problems, which forces the patients to quit treatment. And on top of that, a large amount of patients have zero response to the drug altogether. According to Roger Perlmutter, the head of research at Merck, immunotherapy is “the first broad spectrum anti-cancer agent” since radiation. “We are just scratching the surface. When we are able to treat patients with earlier-stage disease we would expect an even better response and longer durability.” Still, Perlmutter won’t use the word, “cure.” “I prefer to say we can treat this malignancy remove any symptoms so daily living is as normal as possible.” And the cancer-free benchmark hasn’t been reached yet, as the success stories fall between 2-3 years cancer free while the current mark at which patients are really considered cancer free is five years. According to Michael Postow, an oncology at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, “If the patient is 38, for example, we need even more than five years. We have high hopes that the survival benefits from these drugs will extend well beyond five years.” However, this survival will come at a steep price. Keytruda and Opdivo would cost about $150,000 a year, which is more than most patients would be able to afford. But at the same time, putting a price tag on the difference between life or death doesn’t leave you with much choice either. Regardless of the price and the questions left unanswered, just the fact that a potential cure is in the works should be enough to make anybody excited. Imagine a world in which cancer is just another word.