Again and again, metastatic cancer patients gain by participating in clinical trials while patients who do not participate in studies remain with what there is and expected.
Metastatic cancer is a disease that progresses under any treatment given.
The question – When? When you manage to delay the progression of the disease, the patient earns, of course.
As the disease progresses, quality of life decreases and it is increasingly difficult to find treatment that will prevent the patient from deteriorating.
One of the commonly used and standard treatments that start with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer is a combination of two chemotherapies: Alimata and Carboplatin. In a study called IMpower132, an immunosuppressive drug called Atzolizumab was added to this regimen. The addition of the immunotherapy drug resulted in a 40% reduction in the risk of disease progression under the same treatment and, on average, progression of the disease occurred 7.6 months instead of 5.2. Progress in cancer is minimal and metastatic lung cancer is a terrible disease with a severe prognosis. Therefore, extending the length of time for progression of the disease by 50%, in almost two and a half months, is a lot. Remember that cancer patients want to live as much as possible and to have a good quality of life.
The results of the study were published at the end of September 2018 at the International Conference on Lung Cancer.
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http://www.ascopost.com/News/59304
It is important to know that Atzolizumab is a well-known drug but not for the indication examined in the study, of course. Therefore, if your oncologist recommends it or by your own initiative, if you bring up the possibility of adding this drug to the treatment you receive, you can purchase it or ask for it as a Compassion drug from the pharmaceutical company and receive treatment today, which in only a few months or years will be approved.