Experts hail new dual-drug therapy that could improve lung cancer patients’ survival

Experts have welcomed a “quantum leap” in lung cancer treatment, thanks to a new dual-drug therapy that can reduce the risk of recurrence and improve survival over the years.

The results of the study, announced this month, showed that patients who received the immunotherapy drug nivolumab in addition to chemotherapy prior to surgery were more likely to live longer than those who received chemotherapy alone.

Patients also remained asymptomatic for approximately one year after finishing treatment.

Nivolumab is already available on the NHS for lung cancer patients, but is given after surgery or chemotherapy. Doctors believe the results of the study will set a new standard in patient care.

Tobias Arkenau, consultant oncologist at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute, UK, said: “New approaches like this have transformed lung cancer from essentially incurable to chronic disease.

“The days when you could only give chemotherapy and give a bad enough prognosis are almost over.

And there is even hope for a cure with nivolumab. This is a groundbreaking, life-changing study for cancer patients.”

Two weeks ago, oncologist of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, Dr. David Carbone, speaking at the American Association for Cancer Research conference, described the findings as “a new quantum leap forward in lung cancer treatment.”

He added: “I believe combining immunotherapy with surgery is the new standard of care and will almost certainly improve overall survival in early-stage disease for the first time in decades.”

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK, accounting for around one-fifth of all disease deaths.

There are 50,000 new cases each year, and 60% of patients die within one year of diagnosis. One in five men and one in five women with lung cancer live more than five years.

For those in the early stages of the disease, surgery is usually recommended to remove part of the lung and the tumor inside, in hopes of cure.

This is normally followed by chemotherapy to kill cancer cells that have spread to other parts of the body to prevent the cancer from returning.

However, between one-third and half of the patients who undergo surgery relapse and eventually die of their disease.

During the study, 358 patients were divided into two groups. Both were treated with three doses of chemotherapy three weeks apart, but one group received an additional dose of nivolumab by intravenous infusion at the same time.

Nivolumab is a type of medicine known as a checkpoint inhibitor. It works by blocking a protein called PD-1 found in cancer cells that camouflages tumors and helps them evade the immune system.

By blocking PD-1, nivolumab “reveals” the tumor, after which the immune system attacks and gets rid of the cancer. Meanwhile, chemotherapy directly attacks cancer cells.

After three treatment courses were completed, there was a six-week waiting period for surgery.

After approximately two years, patients who received nivolumab had a 37% lower risk of disease recurrence, progression, and death than those who received chemotherapy alone.

It is not entirely clear why treatments are much more effective if administered before surgery.

But last year, the same research team found that the approach significantly shrinks tumors before surgery, making it easier for surgeons to remove all cancerous tissue, and leaving a quarter of patients cancer-free.

One patient with first-hand experience of the remarkable effects of nivolumab is Norma McAra, 70 years old.

Arbroath’s grandmother of three was first diagnosed with advanced lung cancer in 2013. “I went to the GP for some reason and told myself I was a little short of breath as I rushed to the bus,” she recalls. Norm.

His doctor sent him for precautionary scans and tumors were found in his lungs. Norma received chemotherapy and radiotherapy. “We thought we had it all, as the scans kept coming back sharply,” she says.

But in 2016 her cancer came back and she had another year of chemotherapy. The following year, nivolumab was given as it was approved for use by the NHS.

Norma said, “I didn’t look back. I take the drop every two weeks, that’s all. I feel good.

“When I was told I had lung cancer, it felt like a death sentence. It’s amazing to think that patients got just a few doses of the drug I took for the surgery and had the same hope.”