New cancer drug is hailed as ‘wonderful development’
Scientists have welcomed the “truly wonderful development” of a new drug for a hardto-treat and aggressive form of cancer.
Researchers led by a team at Queen Mary University of London said their new treatment “quadrupled” three-year survival rates and increased average survival by 1.6 months.
Academics said the new drug, which works by cutting off the tumour’s food supply, is the first of its type for mesothelioma in 20 years.
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops in the lining that covers the surface of some of the body’s organs – mainly the lining of the lungs. It is usually linked to asbestos exposure. Figures from Cancer Research UK suggest there are about 2,700 new cases of mesothelioma each year in the UK. And every year there are almost 2,400 deaths.
The new study, led by Professor Peter Szlosarek at Queen Mary, saw all patients receive chemotherapy every three weeks for up to six cycles. Half were also given injections of new drug, ADI-PEG20 (pegargiminase) while the other half received a placebo for two years.
Some 249 patients with pleural mesothelioma – when the disease affects the lining of the lungs – were included in the final analysis. They had an average age of 70.
Those who received pegargiminase and chemotherapy survived for an average of 9.3 months, compared to 7.7 months for those who had the placebo and chemotherapy, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Oncology.
The researchers said the average “progression-free survival” was 6.2 months with pegargiminase-chemotherapy compared with 5.6 months among patients who had the placebo and chemotherapy.
Researchers said this is the first successful combination of chemotherapy with a drug that targets cancer’s metabolism developed for this disease in 20 years.
Professor Szlosarek said: “It’s truly wonderful to see the research into the arginine starvation of cancer cells come to fruition. This discovery is something I have been driving from its earliest stages in the lab, with a new treatment, ADI-PEG20, now improving patient lives affected by mesothelioma.”