A new drug has been prepared by the United Kindom scientists to fight the difficult form of lung cancer that can multiply three-year survival rates and increase average survival by 1.6 months. This medicine is said to be “truly wonderful” by experts at Queen Mary University London. It has been shown to make a big difference for people with a hard-to-treat cancer called mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a cancer that starts in the lungs. It’s often caused by working with asbestos, a dangerous material. This cancer is very aggressive and dangerous. Survival rates are not good for it, and thousands of people are diagnosed with it every year, especially in the UK.
Scientists from Queen Mary University of London undertook a huge study in five countries to test this new drug in which they gave chemotherapy to all the patients, but some also got the new drug called ADI-PEG20. Others got a fake medicine, called a placebo, instead. They found that the people who got the new drug lived longer than those who didn’t.
The study looked at 249 patients with a type of mesothelioma that affects the lining of the lungs. These patients were followed for over a year. The ones who got the new drug along with chemotherapy lived for about 9.3 months on average, while those who didn’t get the new drug lived for about 7.7 months.
The new drug seems to work by cutting off the food supply to the cancer cells. It’s the first time in 20 years that a drug like this has shown such promise for mesothelioma. It’s a big deal because it gives hope to people with this tough cancer.
The researchers believe that this is the first time in 20 years that a combination of chemotherapy and a drug targeting cancer’s metabolism has been successful for this disease. The new drug works by reducing arginine levels in the blood. This stops the growth of tumour cells that can’t produce their own arginine.
