To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE


SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

New Melanoma Drug a "Game Changer" Says FDA; Survivors of Advanced Stage Cancers Agree

News Release : Sep 11, 2014  UCLA

"This drug is a game changer, a very significant advance in the treatment of melanoma. For patients who have not responded to prior therapies, this drug now provides a very real chance to shrink their tumors and the hope of a lasting response to treatment." -Dr. Antoni Ribas

(Los Angeles, CA)-The US Food and Drug Administration today approved a new immunotherapy drug to treat advanced melanoma, signaling a paradigm shift in the way the deadly skin cancer is treated.

The drug, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), was tested on more than 600 patients who had melanoma that had spread throughout their bodies. Because so many of the patients in the early testing showed significant long-lasting responses, the study was continued and the FDA granted the drug "breakthrough therapy" status, allowing it to be fast-tracked for approval.

The largest Phase 1 study in the history of oncology, the research was conducted at UCLA and 11 other sites in the U.S., Europe and Australia.

Keytruda, formerly known as MK-3475, is an antibody that targets a protein called PD-1 that is expressed by immune cells. The protein puts the immune system's brakes on, keeping its T cells from recognizing and attacking cancer cells, said Dr. Antoni Ribas, the study's principal investigator and a professor of medicine in the division of hematology–oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

For many years, when using immunotherapy to fight cancer, doctors' strategy has been to bolster the immune system so it could kill the cancer cells. But the approach had limited success because PD-1 prevented the immune system from becoming active enough to attack the cancer.

Keytruda, in effect, cuts the brake lines, freeing up the immune system to attack the cancer.

"This drug is a game changer, a very significant advance in the treatment of melanoma," said Ribas, who also is a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "For patients who have not responded to prior therapies, this drug now provides a very real chance to shrink their tumors and the hope of a lasting response to treatment."

Judith Gasson, senior associate dean for research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and director of the Jonsson Cancer Center, said researchers have long hoped to develop an effective and lasting immunotherapy to fight cancer.

"We have long believed that harnessing the power of our own immune systems would dramatically alter cancer treatment," she said. "Based upon work conducted over the past two decades, we are beginning to see the clinical benefits of this research in some of the most challenging cancers."

Generally, about 1 in 10 patients responded to previous immunotherapy drugs. Some of those who responded, however, exhibited long-lived benefits, which sustained scientists' interest in the method as an effective mechanism to fight cancer.

The response and duration rates for Keytruda were much greater than for previous drugs, Ribas said. In the new study, 72 percent of patients responded to the drug, meaning that their tumors shrank to some degree. Overall, 34 percent of patients showed an objective response, meaning that their tumors shrank by more than 30 percent, and did not re-grow. 

Ribas said Keytruda has the potential to be used to treat other cancers that the immune system can recognize, including cancers of the lung, bladder, head and neck.

Survivors' stories: 

Kathy Thomas, 59, of Torrance, California, was diagnosed in September 2011 with melanoma that had spread to her liver and was invading her left breast. She underwent several therapies that did not work, and she was weakening fast.

"I lost weight. I threw up nearly every day," Thomas said. "My hair was thinning. I just had no strength at all. I was so sick I had to use a wheelchair."

Thomas met with Ribas in 2012 but was skeptical about enrolling in a trial to test an experimental therapy. She soon overcame her hesitation.

"I decided I wanted to survive," she said. "I wasn't going to let this disease beat me."

Since enrolling in the study, Thomas' tumors have shrunk. She regained her strength and her appetite. She's out of her wheelchair and walking normally again. She said she has experienced no side effects from the therapy, and she travels monthly to San Francisco to visit her grandson.
"I just enjoy life now, really enjoy it," she said.

Tom Stutz, 74, of Sherman Oaks, California, was diagnosed in June 2011 with melanoma that had spread to his lung, liver and other parts of his body. He didn't see how he could survive, but he decided to enroll in the clinical trial of Keytruda anyway.

"I wasn't eating. I was on oxygen. I couldn't walk," he said. "When I went into the hospital at the end of May [2012], I didn't think I was coming out."

Gradually, though, Stutz started feeling better. Today, he's no longer on oxygen and walks several miles every day.

"It's the little things that make me happy now," Stutz said. "I'm very appreciative that I get to get up in the morning, go into my backyard and see my garden. I'm able to be with my children and grandchildren, go on vacations with them. I was close to the end of the road, as far as you can get to the edge of the cliff, and I was pulled back by this treatment."







SHARE THIS ARTICLE Printer friendly version of this page

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Other Recent Articles from Breaking Christian News

Trump Under Fire for Endorsing the Bible, Urging Americans to Pray

Whistleblower Claims Stormy Daniels 'Hush Money' Scheme Cooked Up by Michael Cohen to Extort Trump before 2016 Election

Speaker Johnson Announces He'll Invite Netanyahu to Address Congress

Federal Appeals Court Rules Pennsylvania Must Only Count Mail Ballots With Dates, Signatures

Illegal Alien Charged with Murdering a Michigan Woman Was Deported Under Trump But Snuck Back into US Under Biden's Watch

President Trump to Join Wake Honoring Slain NYPD Officer, While Biden Attends Fundraiser

Woke Disney Surrenders!

Illegals Using Fake Skimmers at Self-Checkouts to Drain Consumers' Bank Accounts; Here's How to Guard Yourself

Elon Musk to Pay Embattled Doctor's Legal Fees after Speaking Out against COVID Lockdowns

Safety of Women Hangs in Balance after Oral Arguments on Abortion Pill Regulation

New Federal Gun Grab Law Would Criminalize Shooting Ranges, and Even Private Security

Treasury Sec. Yellen: Biden Has NO Plan to Save Social Security

Maryland Governor Says 'Keep on Praying' for Families of Missing Workers after Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Chick-fil-A Abandons Long-Held 'No Antibiotics' Pledge on Chicken

The War in Myanmar: Karenni Resistance Fighters Ask for Prayer and Practical Help

The World Is Facing a Major Population Crisis by 2075 If Birth Rates Keep Falling

FDA Admits COVID Vaccines Cause Seizures in Toddlers

'Hamas Is Celebrating' after US Abstains from UN Security Council Ceasefire Vote: Netanyahu Cancels Visit

Kamala Harris Won't Disclose Why Biden Campaign Is Active on TikTok Despite Security Worries

Special Counsel Report Reveals University of Delaware Misled Courts to Hide Biden's Senate Records That Likely Hold Sexual Assault Complaint Filed by Tara Reade



Search the Articles Archives

Keyword:  
Author:  
Words Posted On:  
Day Month Year



BCN Plus

Follow BCN on Twitter
Are You Praying for Our Government Leaders?
BCN Staff

Steve Shultz
Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner


Aimee Herd
Aimee Herd, Editor


BCN Plus
Are You Praying for President Trump?
 
 

All articles on this site and emails from BCN are copyrighted property of Breaking Christian News. Permission is given to link to, or share a BCN story if proper attribution is given to both the original writer and summarizer of the story. Breaking Christian News 2005-2019. All Rights Reserved.


Breaking Christian News is a division of Elijah List Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved


Disclaimer: Articles and links, as well as the source articles linked to; do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Breaking Christian News.

editor@breakingchristiannews.com