A cure for lung cancer? Doctors hail incredible breakthrough with new drugs

Charged with murder: White S. Carolina cop who shot unarmed black man FIVE TIMES in the back (and missed three more) then handcuffed his lifeless body before claiming he feared for HIS life
Lawyers for teen accused of raping 13 girls claim victims were inspired by high school revenge movie John Tucker Must Die and framed him because he was 'a player'
We could find alien life 'in the next 10 to 20 years': Top Nasa scientist claims we are on the verge of meeting extraterrestrials
Ferguson election results TRIPLE the number of black officials on city council
Mother 'doused her 7-year-old daughter with gas then set her on fire' during argument
Young Chelsea Clinton called Secret Service 'pigs' and told one agent: 'That's what my mother and father call you', book reveals
'I wouldn't be good at campaigning - I'm not angry anymore': Former US President Bill Clinton on how becoming a grandparent has helped him to embrace his softer side
Rahm Emanuel hangs on to City Hall in Chicago's first-ever mayoral runoff amid financial crisis and crime epidemic
Possible presidential candidate Carly Fiorina blames 'man-made' California water shortage on 'liberal environmentalists'
Florida multimillionaire congressman and wife agree to annulment after 24 years of marriage following allegations that she is a bigamist
Actress Mischa Barton sues her manager mother claiming she stole millions and kicked her out of her own $8million Beverly Hills mansion
Nevada prison guards accused of staging fatal 'gladiator-style' fight between handcuffed inmates, which they broke up by 'opening fire with a shotgun'
'Voodoo worshiper' gets FOUR YEARS for torturing and beheading man with a guitar string as victim's outraged brother calls justice system 'a joke'
The mysterious skies of the Southwest: Map shows where the most UFO sightings happen in the U.S.
No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die: How 007 would have been killed just seven minutes into the plot of Skyfall if movie was real
'Instagram for doctors': How physicians use app to share anatomical wonders (which the average person may find extremely GROSS)
Family of four WERE poisoned by illegal pesticide on Caribbean vacation leaving two sons in critical condition as US authorities confirm criminal investigation opened
Power company disconnected stolen meter which had been illegally connected to home where family of eight died of carbon monoxide poisoning
Former NFL star Will Allen charged with ripping off other pro athletes in $31million Ponzi scheme
Shell sues to boot Greenpeace activists who climbed aboard Arctic oil rig to protest drilling
PICTURE EXCLUSIVE - About Face: Famed plastic surgeon Dr Brandt's high school photos reveal the handsome student he was before he became the object of ridicule on Tina Fey's Netflix show
Dr. Brandt had been treated for suicidal thoughts for JUST ten days, before his body was found in the garage by friend who was asked to stay with him
David Muir's ABC newscast breaks NBC's FIVE YEAR winning streak in the wake of Brian Williams' suspension for lying about his coverage of the Iraq War
Lesbian senior WILL be allowed to wear a tuxedo to her prom, says school principal as he reverses his decision following an outpouring of support for the teenager

Scientists are reporting success treating advanced lung cancer with drugs such as nivolumab
The drug helped a quarter of 129 US patients with advanced lung cancer survive two years
Nivolumab is one of a new class of drug, called anti-PD1s and anti-PDL1s

Published: 17:34 EST, 17 May 2014 | Updated: 03:34 EST, 18 May 2014

151

View
comments

Extraordinary new drugs have cleared tumours that have spread throughout lung cancer patients’ whole bodies, scientists say.

Some are even talking of the new immunotherapy drugs effectively curing patients of the disease, which has a grim survival record.

After lung cancer has spread to other organs – and by the time it’s spotted, it usually has – most patients die within months.

Dr Mick Peake: The doctor saw one man in his 40s who had lung cancer which had spread to his liver, brain, bones and adrenal glands - but the disease disappeared

Of all cancers it is by far the biggest killer in Britain, claiming 35,000 lives a year, more than bowel and breast cancer combined.

But now scientists are reporting incredible success treating advanced lung cancer with drugs such as nivolumab.

Next week ‘stellar’ trial results for the antibody drug will be presented at the world’s biggest cancer conference, for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, in Chicago.

Doctors will reveal that a quarter of 129 US patients with advanced lung cancer have survived at least two years after starting nivolumab.

Dr Mick Peake of Glenfield Hospital in Leicester said: ‘You would expect patients in that group to survive a few months, if you’re lucky. So to get 24 per cent living two years is extraordinary.’

He saw one man in his 40s had lung cancer which had spread to his liver, brain, bones and adrenal glands, he said.

‘By the time it’s spread that far, you don’t expect patients to last more than a couple of months. But in a recent scan, his doctor could not find any evidence of residual disease.’

Dr Peake said it was also remarkable that so many were responding to this treatment. Of those treated with the optimum dose, 45 per cent were alive after two years.

He said: ‘In any trial you get the odd patient who does very well, but this is an order of magnitude above that.’

Glenfield Hospital: Dr Mick Peake of Glenfield Hospital in Leicester said in any trial you get the odd patient who does very well, but this is an order of magnitude above that

Last September, The Mail on Sunday revealed these drugs were being used to treat skin cancer with great success. Now they are having a similar effect on lung cancer, which is 15 times more deadly.

Nivolumab is one of a new class of drug, called anti-PD1s and anti-PDL1s, which help the immune system ‘see’ that tumours are deadly foes.

Explaining how the drugs work Dr Peake said: ‘Tumours develop a ‘cloak’, like a Star Wars force field, around themselves. This stops the immune system attacking them.

‘These drugs take that force field away and allow the body’s immune response to fight the tumour. The beauty is we do not have the adverse side effects of conventional treatment.’

Professor Dean Fennell, who has been treating British patients with a similar drug, MK3475, said: ‘This is an enormous deal. There are patients on treatment who’ve been going an incredibly long time.’

He added it was ‘not inconceivable’ that they could be an ‘effective cure’ for some – allowing patients to live virtually disease-free for years.

Dr Julie Brahmer. of John Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Baltimore, who has helped spearhead US nivolumab trials, said it was ‘a little early’ to call it a cure. But she added: ‘That’s what our hope is.’

She has also witnessed patients whose tumours have shrunk to almost nothing, with some people still well three years after treatment began.

One is still well a year after treatment stopped – suggesting the immune system ‘learns’ from the intravenous therapy.

However, Dr Brahmer, a supporter of US charity Uniting Against Lung Cancer, warned these new drugs were no ‘magic bullet’ for lung cancer.

‘The next step is to make the drugs even better – combining them with standard treatments, other antibodies, and by priming the tumours. We have to figure out how to make them work for everyone.’