New “two-pronged” drug treatment gives patients with kidney cancer a longer and healthier life

People with advanced kidney cancer are living longer and healthier thanks to the new “bifurcated seizure” medication.

The combination of axitnib and avelumab NHS In England, the National Institute of Health Care Excellence gave a green light last month after health regulators.

Axitnib in tablets twice daily limits the blood supply to the tumor and kills it. In addition, patients receive the immunotherapy drug avelumab once a week by infusion, which encourages the body’s immune system to attack and kill cancer cells.

Developed by the drug companies Merck and Pfizer, this combination is more effective than current standard treatments and arrests tumor growth for months, and has already been shown in large international trials. I am.

Experts want this approach to add to the lives of patients for years. 68-year-old Colin Armstrong from Glasgow is one of the people who took part in the trial.

The combination of axitnib and avelumab is now available on the NHS in the UK. Last month after the US National Institute of Health Care approved a Health Regulator,

In July 2017, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer, suffered from fatigue and night sweats, and dropped from 14 to 9 days.

The scan showed a large tumor 7 inches long in the right kidney and a cancerous lesion in the lung. His cancer had spread, so he was not considered suitable for surgery. Instead, he immediately enrolled in a new combination therapy trial and began treatment in August 2017.

Today his lungs are clean and the tumors in his kidneys are over half the size.

Surprisingly, despite his first bleak prognosis, he could soon undergo surgery and remain cancer-free. Armstrong says he feels “returned to full health and strength.”

About 13,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with kidney cancer each year. The disease is difficult to detect and causes few symptoms until it progresses.

The figure shows that more than 4 out of 10 patients found it late in life with limited treatment options.

This month, it was announced that Tony Morris, a long-time presenter of ITV’s Granada Reports, died of the disease at 57, one year after the first diagnosis.

The most common type of kidney cancer is renal cell cancer, which accounts for more than 8 in 10 adults. In advanced cases, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are less effective if the cancer has spread beyond the kidneys.

Patients are usually treated with a handful of drugs that slow the growth of the tumor. However, it does not work in some cases and often becomes less effective over time.

This month, it was announced that Tony Morris, a longtime presenter for ITV’s Granada Reports (whose daughters Natalie and Rebecca Morris are depicted from left to right), died at the age of 57. First diagnosed

“For the majority of patients, cancer learns how to avoid drugs and becomes resistant,” explains Dr. Paul Nathan, a consulting oncologist at Mount Vernon Cancer Center in Hertfordshire.

“Circulating different tablets reaches the point that for many patients, the cancer no longer responds, grows uncontrollably and dies.”

The newly approved treatment for advanced renal cell cancer may support an estimated 1,600 people each year in the United Kingdom.

The results of this combination study, called the Javelin Renal 101 study, show that patients survive five months longer without cancer progression than those who receive targeted therapy called the standard treatment sunitinib Suggests that.

In this study, twice as many patients saw the tumor shrink. Nathan says it’s too early to say whether this treatment has the potential to cure advanced renal cell carcinoma because of the longer-term data needed.

But he adds: “I’m certain that I have a group of patients who have long-term control of their cancers and die of something else at an older age. They take more time with their family, work, and contribute positively. Will spend more time becoming a member of a society that

Nivolumab, a separate immunotherapy treatment, was previously approved by health authorities for use in English patients with advanced renal cancer.

But this can only help those who are most aggressive with the disease.

“This new combination seems to be beneficial overall,” says Nathan. “It gives us many options.”

Former court clerk Armstrong first visited his doctor after experiencing six weeks of night sweats, limb weakness, and inexplicable weight loss.

“I was expecting bad news, and I was a bit reluctant to go first,” he says. “But in the end I went and it was the same.”

He was not suitable for surgery, but was tried. “I started feeling better within a few weeks,” he says.

However, taking axitnib and avelumab is not completely easy. He suffered from side effects such as chronic diarrhea and hand-foot syndrome. This condition occurs when the drug leaks through the blood vessels in the palms and soles of the feet and damages the surrounding tissue.

However, the scan revealed that the drug combination was working. His lung lesions disappeared and the tumor had shrunk. Three years later, the size of the tumor has shrunk by 60%.

A recent scan shows that some of his tumors are beginning to grow, so the doctor will have surgery later this month to remove the growth and kidneys.

This wants him to remain cancer free. But overall, Armstrong feels good. “I can do almost everything I can do before diagnosis,” he says.

“I walk and drive my car as before. I don’t do much DIY right now, but I think I’m back to perfect health and strength.”

Nick Turkentine, Chief Executive Officer of Kidney Cancer UK, said: “Kidney cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the UK and is often diagnosed late.

Statistics show poor survival after delayed diagnosis due to limited treatment options for patients. There is an urgent need to improve outcomes, and advances in such cancer treatments provide lifeline for patients and families.