New Lung Cancer Drug Appears To Be Better Than Chemo, Says Study

There is a new drug that works better than chemotherapy in treating cancer.

Washington Post reported that the drug activates the immune system of the body to attack cancer cells, which worked better compared to a traditional chemotherapy agent. The drug was observed in battling an advanced type of lung cancer. Furthermore, the drug was less toxic to cancer patients. Seven percent of patients who took nivolumab experienced side effects, compared to 20 percent of those who took docetaxel.

Nivolumab is one of three government-approved drugs that tap the immune system to fight harmful agents in the body. The drug improved the results in 19.2 percent of patients who had non-squamous cell non-small cell lung cancer. Only 12.4 percent of patients who were given docetaxel had improved conditions. Patients who were given nivolumab also had more longevity, surviving at an average of 12.2 months more, compared to chemotherapy patients who had a median of 9.4 months. Patients who took nivolumab were 27 percent less likely to die. Furthermore, there were individuals who had tumors that released a certain type of protein, which improved their chances of survival. People who had the protein survived an average of 17.2 months, compared to 5.6 months only for those who underwent chemotherapy.

News Medical revealed that the findings of the study will be presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The new drug is also known as Roche's immunotherapy MPDL3280A. The Phase II study (POPLAR) is the first trial of its kind which presents how inhibiting PD-L1 boosts the activity of the immune system, thereby preventing the progression of cancer and increasing survival rate. At present, Roche also has three Phase II and six Phase III studies of MPDL3280A covering different kinds of lung cancer. The drug has shown potential in the treatment of urothelial bladder cancer too.

Roche further showed positive results from a couple of studies for alectinib, an oral analplastic lymphoma kinsa (ALK) inhibitor. The drug is known to reduce the size of tumors.

"There is no doubt that immunotherapy has come to stay in lung cancer," said Luis Paz-Ares, leader of the researcher at the Hospital Universitario Virgen Del Rocio in Sevilla, Spain, based on the same Washington Post report.

Paz-Ares added that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths around the globe. 1.8 million people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year. He expects the Food and Drug Administration to approve the use of nivolumab on cancer patients soon.