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Immunotherapy in Cancer comes of age

garcia

Aristocrat Extraordinaire
Messages
976
Location
UK
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32951892
A pair of cancer drugs can shrink tumours in nearly 60% of people with advanced melanoma, a new trial has suggested.

An international trial on 945 patients found treatment with ipilimumab and nivolumab stopped the cancer advancing for nearly a year in 58% of cases.

UK doctors presented the data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Cancer Research UK said the drugs deliver a "powerful punch" against one of the most aggressive forms of cancer.

Harnessing the immune system is a rapidly developing field in cancer research.
The immune system is a powerful defence against infection. However, there are many "brakes" built in to stop the system attacking our own tissues.
Cancer - which is a corrupted version of healthy tissue - can take advantage of these brakes to evade assault from the immune system.
Ipilimumab, which was approved as an advanced melanoma treatment by the UK's health service last year, and nivolumab both take the brakes off.
An international trial on 945 people showed that taking both drugs led to tumours shrinking by at least a third in 58% of patients - with the tumours stable or shrinking for an average of 11.5 months.
The figures, published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine, for ipilimumab on its own were 19% and 2.5 months.

From wikipedia:
Ipilimumab is a drug used for the treatment of cancer. It is a monoclonal antibody that works to activate the immune system by targeting CTLA-4, a protein receptor that downregulates the immune system.

Nivolumab is a fully human IgG4 anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody for the treatment of cancer. Nivolumab acts as an immunomodulator by blocking ligand activation of the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) receptor on activated T cells.

Apparently both drugs (and especially the combination) carry the risk of very severe side effects. But interesting research nevertheless given the current testing of cancer drugs in ME/CFS.
Also both drugs cost about £75,000 each for a course of treatment (compared to only hundreds of pounds for standard chemotherapy).
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
Yes once again the fate of many patients will lie in the hands of NICE, big pharma will be rubbing their hands - again........ I hate this lottery of drugs, isn't it time govts were able to buy the patent of really useful life saving drugs from pharma for the costs of the research plus a reasonable profit. What is the world all about if its not saving lives?
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
Yes once again the fate of many patients will lie in the hands of NICE, big pharma will be rubbing their hands - again........ I hate this lottery of drugs, isn't it time govts were able to buy the patent of really useful life saving drugs from pharma for the costs of the research plus a reasonable profit. What is the world all about if its not saving lives?


Probably alot of tax payer funds go to these big pharma companies to help research , I wonder how much of these funds actually go back to tax payers?