Kidney Cancer Can Be Better Treated
Kidney cancer patients are going to have more options in the future as two different drugs proved to offer better treatment compared to those which are on the market right now. One of the drugs is even from the field of immune-oncology and it is good to know that kidney cancer can be better treated in a more professional and efficient way.
The two drugs proved their superiority in two different studies. In one of these studies it seems that patients who have been taking Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Opdivo drug presented a median survival of 25 months. In a more accessible way to understand, those are 5.4 extra months of survival added to the survival rate provided by the Afinitor drug, from Novartis AG.
The second study has worked with a drug from Exelixis Inc. known as Cabozantinib. This drug seems to have kept kidney cancer in check for an extra 7.4 months compared to the 3.8 months provided by Afinitor. Researchers suspected that greater survival rates could be achieved, but they advise further investigation before concluding the drug’s benefit.
Needless to say, the benefits that these two drugs bring are superior to those provided by Afinitor. This was confirmed by the editorial known as New England Journal of Medicine, in which both studies were posted, and the conclusions of the two studies were also presented at the European Cancer Congress which took place in Vienna this Friday.
The abstract part of the studies involves objective responses from the patients. According to researchers, these objective responses have been confirmed in only 25% of Opdivo cases and 21% of Cabozantinib cases. In short, we are discussing about findings based on one quarter or one fifth of what patients had to say. We have a very large number of respondents who have not given a specific, recordable answer.
Kidney cancer is a disease that takes 14,000 American lives every year and 62,000 people yearly have to cope with the idea that their demise will probably come faster than they had anticipated or were ready for. Approximately 30% of all these cases are diagnosed once it is too late to do anything. While Afinitor is a response to kidney cancer, the benefits are never going to be what people expect them to be.
Hopefully, these two new drugs will enhance cancer control quality in the years that will follow. Until then, the fight to cure cancer forever will continue its course.
Photo Credits huffpost.com
