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New discovery against cancer! Experimental drug doubles survival for affected patients

2025-05-31 11:35:33Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
New discovery against cancer! Experimental drug doubles survival for affected
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A new cancer immunotherapy drug has helped head and neck cancer patients live twice as long without the disease returning.

Researchers describe this as the biggest advance in the treatment of this type of cancer in the last 20 years. Thousands of patients around the world could benefit from this therapy, which will potentially radically change the approach to a disease that has until now been incredibly difficult to treat, writes the BBC.

Laura Marston, 45, from Derbyshire, England, is one of more than 350 patients taking part in the clinical trial. After being diagnosed with advanced cancer in 2019, doctors gave her just a 30% chance of surviving the next five years. Today, six years later, she is in good health and continues to work full-time.

“I'm surprised I'm still alive,” Laura says. “This therapy has given me my life back.”

Laura underwent treatment with pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug given before and after surgery. The aim was to activate the immune system to recognize and fight the cancer in case it returned.

Life-changing results

Compared with standard treatment, patients who received pembrolizumab before and after surgery lived, on average, five years without their cancer returning, compared with only 2.5 years in the other group.

Also, after three years, the risk of the disease spreading to other parts of the body decreased by 10%.

Professor Kevin Harrington, the leader of the UK study, said that “the drug helps the body develop a strong immune response against tumors, and keeps that response active even after surgery.”

"This treatment could fundamentally change the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer. It significantly reduces the risk of the disease spreading, which is the most life-threatening stage for patients," said Harrington.

The drug that 'trains' the body's cells

The secret to success, according to researchers, is giving the drug before surgery, so that the immune system can "see" the tumor and learn to attack it in the future.

Laura, who lost her tongue during surgery but regained her ability to speak and eat thanks to reconstructive surgery, says immunotherapy has been “phenomenal.” “I didn’t think I would be here to tell my story,” she adds.

Data from the study

The Keynote clinical trial involved 192 hospitals in 24 countries, and was led by the University of Washington in the US. It was funded by the pharmaceutical company MSD.

The results will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Around 12,800 new cases of head and neck cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK./tch


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