Every patient in the experimental trial saw their cancer disappear

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Cancer, such a deadly disease that people are scared to hear its name. Trying to find a medicine or vaccine for this disease is being done for the last many years, but till now there was no success. But, now a new drug for colorectal cancer surprised the researchers when it was found that, during the clinical trial, the cancer cells from all the patients affected by cancer disappeared.

Dostarlimab: The cure for Colorectal Cancer:

Dostarlimab, a monoclonal antibody drug, that has already been approved for the treatment of endometrial cancer in the UK, broke all thresholds of expectation during a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. During the report, this clinical trial was done on 18 cancer patients admitted to the hospital and it was found in the result, after giving the medicine, the doctors did not find any symptoms of cancer in the body of 12 out of 12 patients. Although this sample size of 12 patients is small, but still its results are considered to be game changing in the direction of treatment of this deadly disease and there is every possibility that this drug can be used for permanent treatment of cancer disease.

On which patients can it be used?

According to the report, the drug dostarlimab can be used on only one-tenth of colorectal cancer patients who have a genetic mutation in their tumor. Dr. Luis Diaz, one of the lead authors of this research paper, said, ‘I believe this is the first time in the history of cancer’. He said, ‘It’s really exciting. I think this is a good step for the patients’. Dr Diaz, who is also a member of the White House’s National Cancer Advisory Board, told the New York Times that the finding was ‘the tip of the iceberg’. He said, ‘We are investigating whether this approach can help other cancer patients where, the patient’s chances of survival are very low and the tumor may be MMRD.’ “We are currently enrolling patients with gastric (stomach), prostate and pancreatic cancer,” he said.

A Significant Discovery in the research of treatment of Cancer:

Cancer remains a deadly disease till now and every year 43 thousand in Britain and 1.5 lakh patients of colorectal cancer are found every year in America. At the same time, 17 thousand patients die from colorectal cancer every year in Britain and 53 thousand patients in America.
Therefore, this drug is considered an important discovery. During a clinical trial, doctors were excited when they noticed that, after using the drug Dostarlimab, patients who had specific genetic makeup tumors, known as mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD) or microsatellite instability (MSI), were able to be cured. It is known that this medicine became very effective on those patients. Only five to 10 percent of all rectal cancer patients are believed to have MMRD tumors, and all patients included in the clinical trials suffered from it. The monoclonal antibody works by binding to a protein called PD-1 on the surface of cancer cells. It helps the immune system effectively destroy them.

How was the clinical trial done?

During the clinical trial, 12 patients had undergone previous treatment for colorectal cancer, which included chemotherapy and risky surgery. Patients enrolled in the study were given monoclonal antibody treatment every three weeks for six months. After which the researchers continuously monitored the patients after 12 months and then during the test, it was found that the cancer had disappeared from their body. Many times the doctors scanned all the patients in different ways, took their test, but the doctors did not find cancer.

How much does this medicine cost?

According to the report of Daily Mail, the price of Dostarlimab in the US is around $ 11,000 i.e. around 8 lakh 80 thousand rupees per 500mg. Whereas, in the United Kingdom the drug costs £5,887 per dose, in the UK, it is sold. However, the NHS has agreed a waiver for the treatment of advanced endometrial cancer with manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which sponsored the US trial.

Dostarlimab is administered to approximately 100 advanced endometrial cancer patients each year. Lifesaving medication aims to improve their quality of life and avoid chemotherapy, which has more side effects, while having limited benefits.

Writing credits – Jiya