{"id":27438,"date":"2021-09-14T13:06:06","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T13:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=23547"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:14:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:14:29","slug":"new-chemotherapy-free-treatment-for-bowel-cancer-made-available-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/new-chemotherapy-free-treatment-for-bowel-cancer-made-available-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"New chemotherapy-free treatment for bowel cancer made available in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bowel<\/p>\n

Bowel cancer cells under a microscope.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved<\/a> the immunotherapy drug<\/span> pembrolizumab<\/span><\/a> (Keytruda) for some adults with<\/span> bowel cancer<\/span><\/a> that\u2019s spread to other parts of the body.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pembrolizumab will be made available to people with bowel cancers that are unable to repair DNA damage, which means these types of tumours have a lot more errors (mutations) in their DNA.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first immunotherapy, and the first chemotherapy-free option for this group of bowel cancer patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

It\u2019s great news that pembrolizumab has been approved to treat metastatic colorectal cancer in Scotland. It is a landmark decision for patients and their families, as it\u2019s the first drug of its kind to be made available for this type of cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2013<\/span> David Ferguson, public affairs manager for Cancer Research UK in Scotland<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A \u2018landmark\u2019 decision offers new hope<\/span><\/h2>\n

Around 4 in 100 metastatic bowel cancers have a lot more DNA mutations than others, as they\u2019re unable to repair any mistakes that are made in their DNA. These cancers are said to have high \u2018microsatellite instability\u2019 (MSI) or \u2018mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency\u2019, which can make them more aggressive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chemotherapy-based treatments are currently offered for these cancers, but they can have high toxicity and can cause debilitating side effects. Pembrolizumab could offer new hope to these patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis drug will now be offered to patients who have a specific type of colorectal cancer where the DNA repair mechanism is damaged. Prior to this approval, these patients had no options for treatment outside of chemotherapy. Today\u2019s decision will make a real difference to their lives, offering them the chance of more precious time with their loved ones.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Why does immunotherapy work better for these patients?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Immunotherapies harness the body\u2019s immune system to fight cancer. Researchers have<\/span> found that bowel cancer tumours with high MSI or MMR deficiency have a lot of immune<\/span> cells within them, but the cancer stops them from working. Pembrolizumab blocks the PD1<\/span> pathway, which may help the body\u2019s immune system fight the cancer cells.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPembrolizumab provides a more targeted approach to treating cancer, by helping the<\/span> immune system to attack tumours. Studies have shown that it slows down the time that it<\/span> takes for many different types of cancer to grow and spread around the body,\u201d says<\/span> Ferguson.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A less toxic option<\/span><\/h2>\n

In a phase 3 clinical trial<\/a><\/span>, patients who were given pembrolizumab lived without their cancer growing for longer \u2013 from an average of 8.2 months for patients on one of the current 6 chemotherapy options, to 16.5 months for patients taking pembrolizumab.<\/span><\/p>\n

Results from a patient group submitted by Bowel Cancer UK found that pembrolizumab tends to mean fewer hospital visits and shorter treatment cycles. The side effects are also often less toxic than current chemotherapy options.<\/span><\/p>\n

This new treatment option was made available to people with bowel cancer<\/span> patients in England<\/span><\/a> on the NHS in May this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

More on this topic<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bowel cancer cells under a microscope. The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for some adults with bowel cancer that\u2019s spread to other parts of the body. Pembrolizumab will be made available to people with bowel cancers that are unable to repair DNA damage, which means these types of tumours […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43621,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27438\/revisions\/43621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}