An experimental pill that could supercharge cancer treatment is offering fresh hope to patients with currently incurable forms of the disease, an early–stage trial suggests.
Cancer diagnosed early can often be successfully treated with standard drugs and surgery.
But once it has spread, the disease becomes far harder to tackle.
Around one in five cases are only detected at an advanced stage, leaving patients with few options beyond palliative care – where treatment focuses on easing symptoms rather than offering a cure.
The new drug, known as GRWD5769, could transform prospects for these patients, researchers say.
It is designed to be given alongside immunotherapy – treatments that help the body’s immune system seek out and destroy cancer cells.
However, many patients eventually stop responding to these drugs, with resistance emerging in two thirds of cases – and GRWD5769 is intended to overcome this problem.
In the trial, the twice-daily pill was given alongside immunotherapy to 83 patients with advanced bowel, bladder, lung, cervical or head and neck cancers – which together account for around a third of all cases diagnosed in the UK each year.
The drug could transform treatment for many hard to treat cancers, experts sayÂ
Results presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago showed tumours shrank in around a third of patients receiving the combination.
More than half of those who responded saw their tumours reduced by at least 30 per cent.
The pill appeared most effective in lung and bowel cancers, halting disease progression for at least six months in more than half of patients – with very few side-effects reported.
It also helped cervical cancer patients – many of whom are diagnosed at a late stage – delaying progression for at least six months in 18 per cent of cases.
The tablets, which can be taken at home, also halted progression of the disease for the same period of time in nearly a third of liver cancer patients, 36 per cent of bladder cancer patients and 38 per cent of those with head and neck cancers.Â
Lead investigators on the trial, from The Christie NHS foundation trust in Manchester, said whilst the early data is encouraging across several hard–to–treat tumours, there’s still a lot more work to be done before it can be rolled out in clinics.Â
The combined therapy targets cancer in two distinct but complementary ways.
Immunotherapy trains T–cells – disease fighting cells – to recognise and attack cancer cells.Â
However, in around two thirds of patients, it fails. This new drug solves this problem by stopping tumour cells from hiding from the immune system.
The trial remains ongoing with researchers hoping the drug will continue to improve outcomes for a number of hard–to–treat cancers.
Cancer Research UK’s research information lead, Dr Samuel Godfrey, who was not involved in the trial, welcomed the findings.
He said: ‘It’s unusual to see such outcomes in patients whose cancers have already stopped responding to treatment, particularly across several hard‑to‑treat cancer types, so these results are encouraging.
‘However, this is still an early‑stage study, and larger trials will be needed to determine whether this approach can deliver lasting benefits for patients.’
