Over the past few decades, scientists have made huge leaps in treating a wide range of common cancer diseases such as breast, prostate, and bowel cancer. Recently, new targeted treatments for "once hopeless" melanoma skin cancer have also broken new ground – effectively curing patients.
Today, there is hope for a cure for lung cancer. This past weekend, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, a series of highly effective new therapies that experts found "inspiring" were unveiled. Among them, many new research advances may change the way lung cancer is treated. Experts say they are very close to a "qualitative breakthrough" in the treatment of lung cancer.
↑ Schematic
Adjuvant monotherapy after surgery
42% lower chance of lung cancer recurrence, progression or death
Lung cancer is reported to be the malignant tumor with the highest mortality rate in the world, and the incidence rate ranks second in the world. James Spicer, professor of experimental cancer medicine at King's College London, said the emergence of new drugs now means that even patients whose cancer has spread throughout the body can live 10 or even 15 years longer. "We are now in the stage where we are starting to talk about how to treat patients with advanced lung cancer."
↑Results of the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial KEYNOTE-671 were announced at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting
Among them, a breakthrough study in patients with early-stage lung cancer found that a drug that boosts the immune system can significantly slow the recurrence of lung cancer. Merck presented positive results from a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, KEYNOTE-671, at the ASCO meeting, evaluating the blockbuster anti-PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab as preoperative (neoadjuvant) and postoperative (adjuvant) therapy for resectable stage II, IIIA, or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.
The trial results showed that after a median follow-up period of 25.2 months, pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy as neoadjuvant therapy and monotherapy after surgery significantly improved event-free survival (EFS) and reduced the risk of disease recurrence, progression, or death by 42%.
In a related research paper, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine write that use three months before surgery and one year after surgery significantly reduces the risk of recurrence compared with preoperative chemotherapy. "There was a 42 percent increase in event-free survival (EFS), which affected a large percentage of patients," said researcher Heather Wakeley, a professor of medical oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine.
While researchers say it's too early to estimate that patients taking pembrolizumab will live a few more months, early signs are "very positive." "The data we've seen suggests that if you take this treatment, the chance of the cancer coming back is cut in half," Spicer said. In some cases, researchers couldn't even find any signs of cancer. These patients were effectively cured. ”
Pembrolizumab is an immune checkpoint inhibitor that helps the immune system find tumor cells and destroy them. Injecting the drug every three weeks has proven to be a successful treatment for melanoma, skin cancer, bladder cancer, and lymphoma.
Experts say the next step is to see if the number and dose of pembrolizumab injections can be reduced. Jyoti Patel, a cancer clinical research expert at Northwestern University in Illinois, noted that the drug buys people more time, but patients still need to go to the hospital regularly for treatment. Not only that, but this drug has side effects that increase the risk of other diseases.
DAINA GREBOSCH, A BIOTECHNOLOGY ANALYST IN IMMUNO-ONCOLOGY, BELIEVES THAT KEYNOTE-671 HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE THE "MOST PRACTICE-CHANGING IMPACT DATA" FOR LUNG CANCER PRESENTED AT THIS YEAR'S ASCO CONFERENCE.
ADC drugs from China are attracting attention
According to reports, the new targeted TROP2-ADC (SKB264, MK-2870) drug jointly developed by Sichuan Kelun Botai Biomedical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Kelun Botai") and Merck Sharp & Dohme also attracted attention at the ASCO conference.
It is reported that SKB264 drugs, also known as "warhead drugs", can penetrate tumors and provide a powerful chemotherapy drug "payload" to attack cancer cells from the inside. Known as targeted antibody conjugates (ADCs), this highly precise treatment can avoid damage to healthy human tissue.
In a trial conducted by Colombot, efficacy was evaluable in 39 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, with an objective response rate (ORR) of 44%, a disease control rate of 95%, a median duration of response (DoR) of 9.3 months, and a 6-month DoR rate of 77%. Experts say this means that SKB264 may double the survival time of such patients.
Experts say warhead drugs like SKB264 may soon be combined with immunotherapy and chemotherapy to further prolong the lives of lung cancer patients. "Only 20% of lung cancer patients are effectively cured," Spicer said. The ADC may increase this number. ”
↑ Lung cancer cells that are dividing
In addition to non-small cell lung cancer, the indications of this drug also include triple-negative breast tumors, ovarian cancer, transitional cell carcinoma, etc.
Some foreign media said in the report that the ASCO meeting can be seen that China has become one of the world's major antibody drug conjugate (ADC) innovators. Daina Grebosch also said in an interview: "All of a sudden, there are a lot of very good ADCs in China. ”
In addition to SKB264, which has attracted much attention, DB-1303, a humanized anti-HER2 IgG monoclonal antibody, introduced by German biotech company BioNTech at the ASCO conference, also originated in China. DB-1303 has been granted fast track by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is one of two ADC new drugs introduced by BioNTech and Shanghai Yingen Biotech announced in April this year.
BioNTech's ASCO summary showed: "DB-1303 is well tolerated with encouraging preliminary antitumor activity," with a partial tumor response in 44% of 52 patients, including 50% of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.
Red Star News reporter Xu Slow
Edited by Guo Yu and edited by Guan Li
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