BLOOD CANCER BREAKTHROUGH!
New chemo zaps cancer while leaving healthy cells untouched
REVOLUTIONARY manmade antibodies may help some lymphoma patients substantially cut the risk of a blood cancer relapse while eliminating the need for traditional, damaging chemotherapy, a recent medical trial suggests.
Delivered via an infusion, the medication Polivy — also known as polatuzumab vedotin-piiq — uses artificial proteins to carry chemotherapy directly to cancer cells to destroy them while leaving healthy tissue unscathed.
The technology also allows doctors to administer higher doses of cancer-killing drugs without worries about systemic toxicity.
A landmark trial showed patients treated with Polivy were 25 percent less likely than others to see their cancer return after two years.
Experts have hailed the med as the biggest breakthrough in two decades for patients who did not respond to current chemotherapy options.
While there are more than 70 types of lymphoma, the trial focused on diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which is the most prevalent kind in the U.S.
More than 18,000 Americans are diagnosed with DLBCL annually. Most are successfully treated, but in up to a third of patients, the disease comes roaring back.
Trial researcher Dr. Graham Collins — a hematologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust — calls the treatment “the first major step forwards we’ve seen in some time for patients with advanced disease.”
The Food and Drug Administration has already approved Polivy. The agency identified it as an option, in combination with the chemo drug bendamustine and the monoclonal antibody rituximab, for DLBCL patients who have experienced a progression or recurrence of disease after at least two prior therapies.