For rare forms of cancer, drugs can be a game changer

(Journalist)
– Esophageal cancer can be rare, but it is a particularly brutal form of the disease. It is common for patients to undergo chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery, so that the cancer comes back quickly, notes the New York Times. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, however, raises the hope of avoiding such recurrences. An immunotherapy drug called nivolumab has doubled the lifespan of cancer-free patients after surgery from 11 to 22 months and reduced the risk of recurrence or death by 31%, reports the Dallas Morning News. The study, carried out at Baylor University and funded by Bristol Myers Squibb, involved 794 patients in 29 countries. Two-thirds of the participants were given the drug, aka Opdivo, and the rest were given a placebo. All were previously diagnosed with stage 2 or 3 esophageal cancer.

“This trial is a real game changer,” says Dr. David Ilson of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, per HealthDay News. “This is the first real breakthrough in the field in several decades,” adds Ilson, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal and was not involved in the study. Lead author Dr Ronan Kelly of Baylor calls it “a big step forward for these patients,” according to the report. Morning news. The drug is already being used for advanced stage inoperable cancers, including cancer of the esophagus, and the study raises the possibility that it could be used earlier in treatment. This type of cancer is difficult to remove with surgery because cancer cells can escape detection in lymph nodes and elsewhere, notes the Times. (Esophageal cancer claimed the life of renowned author Christopher Hitchens.)