Immune boosting drugs save kidney cancer patients
IMMUNE boosting drugs have saved the lives of patients suffering kidney cancer, new research released today reveals.
Peter Waite was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year and was enrolled on the trial
Forty per cent of people in a UK trial saw their tumours shrink significantly and 10 per cent were freed of the disease.
Professor John Wagstaff, a leading cancer specialist who has used the treatment, said: “These results are astounding and offer real hope of long-term remission.”
Karol Sikora, one of the country’s leading cancer experts, said: “This is fantastic news and a real breakthrough. However, we now need to find a test that would predict which patients will respond to this treatment as it is very expensive.”
The treatment, approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, is a combination of the drugs Nivolumab and Ipilimumab.
These re-programme the body’s immune system to recognise and kill cancer cells.
Immune boosting drugs have saved the lives if patients suffering kidney cancer
These results are astounding and offer real hope of long-term remission
The results of the trial, which focused on 94 patients, are presented today in Copenhagen.
They will give fresh hope to patients with this form of kidney cancer, renal cell carcinoma, which affects 80 per cent of the 12,000 kidney cancer patients diagnosed each year.
The treatment is still only available through trials, though experts hope further research will lead to it being approved for use on the NHS.
Experts hope further research will lead to it being approved for use on the NHS
Peter Waite, 63, a father-of-two from Preston, was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year.
He was enrolled on the trial and within months his tumours shrank.
The specialists say his treatment was so successful he no long needs to take the drugs.