Experts Find New Drug That Shrinks Ovarian Cancer Tumor
A new drug has been hailed as the biggest breakthrough in treating ovarian cancer by dramatically shrinking tumors. It is the first in a new class of drugs discovered by Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London.
The drug, which doesn't have a street name pending further trials, is called ONX-0801. It was tested in 15 women with advanced cases of the disease as part of a wider trial run. The result showed that tumors shrank in seven of the 15 patients. It also has the potential to extend the patients' lives for more than six months.
ONX-0801 works by mimicking folic acid to enter cancer cells. It then kills the cells by stopping the action of a protein called thymidylate synthase. Another good thing about the medication is that it doesn't have the side effects associated with chemotherapy as it targets only the cancer cells and leaves the healthy cells alone.
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One of the participants of the first clinical trial is 27-year-old Laura Moses who was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer. She had her ovaries, womb and appendix removed. She has high hopes for the treatment and has been writing her experiences in her blog.
Six out of 10 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the later stage of the disease. A fifth of women with the cancer is diagnosed at a stage when their disease has already spread around the body and is incurable. Only about half of diagnosed women live for five years or more.
"This is much more than anything that has been achieved in the last 10 years," said Dr. Udai Banjeri of the drug development unit at ICR and Royal Marsden who led the study. He expected that the drug "should add upward of six months to patients' lives with minimal side effects in extremely late-phase ovarian cancer."
