New drugs used in the treatment of lung cancer have given hope to advanced patients. It was noted that the drugs add months and even years to the lives of people suffering from lung cancer.
Despite its low mortality rate, lung cancer, which is the leading cause of death worldwide, is usually detected late and in some cases can be seen as a “death sentence”.
Between 25 and 30 percent of patients in stage 4 of non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of the disease, die less than three months after diagnosis.
Three studies presented this weekend at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held May 31-June 4, showed that lung cancer patients can live longer.
“The prognosis for the disease was very bad,” said Dr. Angela DeMichele, an oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania Health System:
“Now patients we never thought would get better are getting better.
One study found that AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso drug can control lung cancer in stage three patients for nearly three years longer than chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Another study testing the company’s immunotherapy drug Imfinzi found that it extended the life of some patients suffering from aggressive lung cancer by about two years. Relatively rare small cell lung cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of the disease.
The third study presented at the meeting in Chicago, USA, reported on the effects of Pfizer’s drug Lorbrena, which targets genetic mutations in tumors.
In this study, it was noted that 60 percent of advanced cancer patients were alive and their disease did not progress after using the drug for 5 years. Researchers state that this rate was 8 percent in an older drug that also targeted the genetic mutation.
“These results are truly extraordinary,” said Dr. David Spigel, lead researcher of the Imfinzi study:
“This is a really big step forward in the treatment of lung cancer.
“It’s a little easier to see the future again,” Matt Hiznay, who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2011 at age 24 and has been taking Lorbrena since 2015, told the Wall Street Journal.
Despite these advances, researchers say there is still a long way to go. Dr. Lecia Sequist, a lung cancer specialist who was not involved in the trials, says that longer-term treatments and whether some patients will eventually be able to stop treatment may be explored next.
Lung cancer responds better to new drugs such as immunotherapy than some other cancers, doctors say.
Dr. Lauren Averett Byers, a lung cancer oncologist who was not involved in the studies, said, “Seeing something where we measure benefit in years instead of months is a huge step in the right direction.” (INDEPENDENT TÜRKÇE)
