An immunotherapy drug has been described as a potential "game changer" in promising results presented at the European Cancer Congress, according to a report in the BBC Saturday.
In a study of head and neck cancer, more patients taking nivolumab survived for longer compared with those who were treated with chemotherapy.
In another study, combining nivolumab with another drug shrank tumours in advanced kidney cancer patients.
Immunotherapy works by harnessing the immune system to destroy cancer cells.
Advanced head and neck cancer has very poor survival rates.
In a trial of more than 350 patients, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 36% treated with the immunotherapy drug nivolumab were alive after one year compared with 17% who received chemotherapy.
Patients also experienced fewer side effects from immunotherapy.
The benefits were more pronounced in patients whose tumours had tested positive for HPV (human papillomavirus). These patients survived an average of 9.1 months with nivolumab and 4.4 months with chemotherapy, the BBC reported.Normally, this group of patients are expected to live less than six months, it added.
Early data from a study of 94 patients with advanced kidney cancer showed that the double hit of nivolumab and ipilimumab resulted in a significant reduction in the size of tumours in 40% of patients.
Of these patients, one in 10 had no sign of cancer remaining.
This compares with 5% of patients showing tumour reduction after standard therapy.
As yet, nivolumab has only been approved for treating skin cancer and in June it became one of the fastest medicines ever approved for NHS use, in combination with ipilimumab, for the same cancer.
Nivolumab and ipilimumab both work by interrupting the chemical signals that cancers use to convince the immune system they are healthy tissue.
In an interview with BBC, Prof Kevin Harrington of the Institute of Cancer Research and consultant at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, who led the head and neck cancer trial, said nivolumab could be a real "game changer" for patients with advanced head and neck cancer.
"This trial found that it can greatly extend life among a group of patients who have no existing treatment options, without worsening quality of life.
"Once it has relapsed or spread, head and neck cancer is extremely difficult to treat. So it's great news that these results indicate we now have a new treatment that can significantly extend life, and I'm keen to see it enter the clinic as soon as possible."
Prof Paul Workman, chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, told BBC nivolumab was one of a new wave of immunotherapies that were beginning to have an impact across cancer treatment.
source: Philippine Star
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