‘Breakthrough’ drugs shrink tumors in half ovarian cancer patients

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
4 Jun 2023 13:21

The groundbreaking therapy has been found to drastically prevent tumor development, allowing the illness to be kept at bay for years.

An intern at the Hampton University Cancer Research Centre in the US examining cancer cells (AP)

Thousands of women with ovarian cancer may benefit from a groundbreaking medicine combination that has been demonstrated to considerably decrease tumors in nearly half of patients with the condition.

The new medication inhibits tumor development, which can help put the cancer at bay for years. The "fantastic" and "very exciting" findings of clinical trials of the medicine combination, presented this weekend at the world's largest cancer conference, revealed it was "far more effective" than any other existing alternative for patients, as per experts.

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Research in London conducted a phase 2 study on 29 patients to evaluate the medicine Avutometinib alone and in combination with Defactinib.

According to trial data, over half of the patients on the new medicine combination had their tumors shrink considerably. It was nearly twice as successful as the next best therapy, trametinib, which had a 26% response rate.

Patients with a specific mutation had even better results, with 60% of KRAS-driven ovarian tumors shrinking following therapy.

However, nearly a third of patients (29%) who did not have the mutation had an optimistic response, which is an improvement over usual therapy.

All of the patients had low-grade serous ovarian cancer, which is more common in young women.

Dr. Susana Banerjee, the global lead investigator of the study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago, affirmed that the new drug could represent a “significant breakthrough”.

“These initial results could be fantastic news for women with low-grade serous ovarian cancer, indicating a far more effective option than current treatments,” she said.

It is worth noting that Avutometinib is a dual RAF and MEK inhibitor, which is a sort of targeted medicine that inhibits specific proteins that aid in cancer development and survival. According to research, the medicine might become ineffective over time as tumors acquire treatment resistance.

However, when paired with Defactinib, which combats a protein that promotes treatment resistance, Avutometinib performs better. The medication combination outperforms Avutometinib alone by a factor of four.