New drug trial sees cancerous tumours shrink
A NEW treatment for advanced skin cancer has been shown to rapidly shrink tumours.
The experimental drug – PLX4032 – works by blocking a gene that enables cancer tumours to develop.
The so-called BRAF gene is linked to around half of melanoma skin cancers and half of bowel cancers.
A clinical trial on the new drug in New York is in the early stages and involved just 31 patients but researchers have seen dramatic results.
Of the patients, 22 have been evaluated and 64 per cent (14) of those have met the criteria for a partial response (with the diameter of tumours shrinking by at least 30 per cent for at least a month). A further six patients have also shown a response although it is too early to fully analyse their results.
Although the treatment does not offer a cure, it is thought it could help patients live longer lives in better health.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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