NB BUREAU
It was a small trial just 18 rectal cancer patients, every one of whom took the same drug. But the results were astonishing. The cancer vanished in every single patient, undetectable by physical exam, endoscopy, PET scans or MRI scans, giving new hope to the cancer patients across the globe.
According to New York Times, the drug Dostarlimab has seemingly cured every participant suffering from rectal cancer in the trial. They took Dostarlimab for around six months and after over 12 months the doctors found that their cancer has vanished. They were all in similar stages of their cancer – it was locally advanced in the rectum but had not spread to other organs. Dostarlimab is a drug with laboratory-produced molecules that function as substitute antibodies in the human body.
“I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer,” said Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr, the author of the paper published on Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine, in reference to the breakthrough results.
Reportedly, their cancer completely disappeared and was undetectable by physical exam; endoscopy; positron emission tomography or PET scans or MRI scans.
Researchers in the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Sunday wrote, “At the time of this report, no patients had received chemoradiotherapy or undergone surgery, and no cases of progression or recurrence had been reported during follow-up,”
Meanwhile, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a co-author of the paper, oncologist Dr Andrea Cercek, described the moment patients found out they were cancer-free. “There were a lot of happy tears,” she told the New York Times.
The final result of this trial has shocked experts around the globe and they have pointed out that complete remission in every single patient is “unheard-of”. Although the trial size was small, Dostarlimab can be a potential cure for one of the most deadly common cancers.
(With inputs from media reports)
