In what is making waves in the medical world, a small group of people with rectal cancer who were treated with a drug called Dostarlimab for around six months, saw their tumours disappear, according to a report in the New York Times.
Dostarlimab is a drug with laboratory-produced molecules that acts as substitute antibodies in the human body. All 18 rectal cancer patients were given the same drug and as a result of the treatment, cancer was completely obliterated in every patient - undetectable by physical exam, endoscopy, positron emission tomography or PET scans or MRI scans. Reacting to the reports, however, an Indian Oncologist, said "these patients have not been shown to be cured, but have achieved complete response. These patients have a specific genetic alteration called dMMR so this does not apply to all. Moreover, this is a small single arm study of a small number of patients, so it is only hypothesis-generating",
As per the New York Times, the patients involved in the clinical trial faced gruelling previous treatments to obliterate their cancer, such as chemotherapy, radiation and invasive surgery that could result in bowel, urinary and even sexual dysfunction. The 18 patients went into the trial expecting to have to go through these as the next step. However, to their surprise, no further treatment was needed.
Speaking to the media outlet, Dr Alan P Venook, who is a colorectal cancer specialist at the University of California, said that the complete remission in every single patient is “unheard-of”. He hailed the research as a world-first. He even noted that it was especially impressive as not all of the patients suffered significant complications from the trial drug.
Separately, 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. For the trial, patients took Dostarlimab every three weeks for six months. They were all in similar stages of their cancer - it was locally advanced in the rectum but had not spread to other organs.
However, Dr Prashant Mehta, medical oncologist at Asian Institute of Medical Sciences in Faridabad, Haryana, said these patients have not been shown to be cured, but have achieved complete response. These patients have a specific genetic alteration called dMMR so this does not apply to all. Moreover, this is a small single arm study of a small number of patients, so it is only hypothesis generating, he said.
“Only a randomised controlled trial with sufficient number of patients where this is compared with standard of care will answer whether this can be a part of recommended treatment or not! But I agree this is a promising sign,” he said.