Hundreds of thousands of people with advanced head and neck cancer could live longer without their cancer coming back, thanks to an immunotherapy drug, a clinical trial suggests. The BBC reports on the story of a 45-year-old woman who was given little chance of survival after being diagnosed with tongue cancer.
Laura Marston received immunotherapy before and after surgery, which researchers say helps the body learn to attack the cancer if it returns, writes A2 CNN.
As part of an international study into new ways to treat cancer, involving experts from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, Laura was one of more than 350 patients who were given the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab before and after surgery to prime the body's defenses. The new approach showed positive results. It doubled the length of time patients were cancer-free, on average, from about 2.5 years to five years, A2 CNN reports.
After three years, patients given pembrolizumab had a 10% lower risk of their cancer returning to other parts of the body.
Six years later, Laura is working full-time and says she is "in a good position and doing very well." "It's been phenomenal for me, because I'm here, able to talk to you. This wonderful immunotherapy alone has given me my life back," she says, A2 CNN reports.
This is the first sign of progress for patients with this difficult-to-treat cancer for 20 years, say the scientists behind this study.
Head and neck cancers are notoriously difficult to treat, and there has been little change in how patients are treated in two decades.
More than half of those diagnosed with advanced head and neck cancer die within five years.
The study findings are being presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
The study, called Keynote, involved 192 hospitals in 24 countries, was led by Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis and funded by the pharmaceutical company MSD. (A2 Televizion)
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