Cancer drug pairing trial in Scotland

A new combination of drugs to treat lung and pancreatic cancers is to be trialled in Scotland.

It comes as part of a new collaboration between Cancer Research UK and drugs companies MSD and Verastem.

Cancer Research UK said it will investigate whether the effectiveness of an immunotherapy drug developed by MSD, called pembrolizumab, can be boosted by giving it in combination with a second drug, called defactinib, from Verastem, which works by blocking a protein called Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK).

Previous studies have found FAK is often overproduced in tumours and enables cancer cells to repel medication.

The new drugs combination will be tested in around 60 patients with mesothelioma, non-small cell lung and pancreatic cancers.

The trial will be managed by the Cancer Research UK clinical trials unit in Glasgow and co-sponsored by Glasgow University and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Trial co-lead Dr Stefan Symeonides, from Edinburgh University, said: “Immunotherapy is a very exciting area of cancer research and we’ve seen remarkable benefits from pembrolizumab for some patients with hard-to-treat cancers, like melanoma and lung cancer.

“We’re hoping that the addition of defactinib will extend those benefits to more patients.”