A pioneering new drug appears to have cured a British man with advanced skin cancer who had been given just months to live. [s]The Independent[/s] reports that doctors cannot be certain it was the treatment that led to the ‘miraculous’ outcome for Warwick Steele, but know of no other explanation. The drug, pembrolizumab, is the latest in a new generation of treatments that prevent cancers shielding themselves from the immune system. It was tested on melanoma – the most dangerous form of skin cancer – because the prospects for patients with advanced forms of this disease are so bleak. Just under 70% of the 411 patients taking part in the trial were still alive one year after starting on the treatment. Currently one-year survival rates for untreated patients diagnosed with advanced stage four melanoma are just 10% for men and 35% for women. The results from the trial were presented at the annual meeting of the [b]American Society of Clinical Oncology[/b].
[link url=http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/skin-cancer-drug-pembrolizumab-hailed-as-miraculous-new-treatment-9476174.html]Full report in The Independent[/link]
[link url=http://abstracts.asco.org/144/AbstView_144_132924.html]ASCO abstract[/link]