Scientists Welcome ‘Truly Wonderful’ Drug That Can Treat Aggressive Form of Cancer; Here's More

It’s a cancer breakthrough. Scientists have finally discovered a “truly wonderful” drug for treatment of a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Often a fatal, the malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) cancer, which has limited therapeutic options, now has a treatment.

Researchers, led by a team of doctors at the Queen Mary University of London, say that their new innovative treatment “significantly increases the survival of people with malignant mesothelioma.”  

As per the medical scientists, the drug works by cutting off the cancer’s food supply and “quadrupled” the usual three-year survival rates. It is the first of its type for mesothelioma in 20 years, they said in a statement published on Thursday.

Linked to excessive asbestos exposure, the Mesothelioma is a form of aggressive cancer that develops in the lining of some of the body’s organs, particularly the lungs. Just about 2% of people may survive for 10 years after they’re diagnosed with it.

The findings are significant, as MPM has one of the lowest 5-year survival rates of any solid cancer of around 5-10%. This innovative approach marks the first successful combination of chemotherapy with a drug that targets cancer's metabolism developed for this disease in 20 years, scientists said in a statement.

2,213 cases of this type of cancer in India between 2012-2022

From 2012 to 2022, India discovered 2,213 cases of this type of cancer from the data across 83 hospitals, according to International union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Cancer. There are approximately 38,400 mesothelioma-related global deaths per year. Mesothelioma ‘is a rare tumour in the Western world and still rarer in India.’

However, the phase 3 clinical trial conducted by scientists, published in JAMA Oncology and sponsored by Polaris Pharmaceuticals, has unveiled combination treatment of traditional chemotherapy with a new drug, ADI-PEG20.

It increased the median survival of participants by 1.6 months, and quadrupled the survival at 36 months, compared to placebo-chemotherapy, scientists said.

The malignant mesothelioma cells lack a protein called ASS1. This enables cells to manufacture their own arginine. Scientists dedicated their efforts to using this knowledge to create an effective treatment for patients with MPM.  “ 

“It's truly wonderful to see the research into the arginine starvation of cancer cells come to fruition. This discovery is something I have been driving from its earliest stages in the lab, with a new treatment, ADI-PEG20, now improving patient lives affected by mesothelioma. I thank all the patients and families, investigators and their teams, and Polaris Pharmaceuticals for their commitment to defining a new cancer therapy,” said Professor Szlosarek.