The discovery of new drugs or new applications of existing drugs in the war on cancer is potentially a conveyor belt. Cancer defeating treatments are also about big money for drug companies. Recent days have seen a spate of reports about trials of potential game changers for specific types of cancer but also some depressing news about the increase of cancer incidence.
The reason for this waterfall of information is the occurrence in Chicago of the conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the biggest conference of its type in the world.
DEVELOPING DRUGS DEVELOPING HOPE
Prostate Cancer – Take for example a possible alternative to the current haphazard and sometimes very unpleasant tests for prostate cancer, the most common form of cancer in men in 100 countries. Annual deaths are predicted to rise by 85% worldwide. The alternative diagnostic test is a saliva test, spit, linked to DNA analysis per patient. It is cheap and it’s simple, both very important. And it is researchers at Institute of Cancer Research London and the Royal Marsden NHS trust who are leading the way. It is a given that the earlier a propensity to cancer can be diagnosed the more likely is a favourable treatment outcome. This a potential game-changer.
Lung Cancer – this is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Data results presented at the conference show that a new drug, lorlatinib, can treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer, with “off the chart” trial results. The results are apparently the longest progression-free survival outcomes ever recorded. Further work may offer therefore a great hope for lung cancer sufferers.
Bowel Cancer – this is about research led by another British institution, University College, London. It relates to a sub-type of bowel cancer affecting 2000-3000 people in the UK each year. Patients with advanced, stage 3 cancer, were given doses of pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy drug, which is already used by the NHS for other cancers. In surgery following the doses of the drug apparently 59% of patients had no trace of cancer left and the remaining 41% are disease free for now. It seems that one view is that immunotherapy, instead of chemotherapy with all its side effects, before surgery could also become a “game-changer”.
Melanoma Skin Cancer – there is a cancer vaccine being trialled in the UK, which is halving the risk of fatal melanoma with impressive results. It is called mRNA-4157. This is one of numerous research studies of trials for cancer vaccines for many different cancers being discussed at the conference. Cancer vaccines are not like typical vaccines taken to prevent disease but are treatments for existing cancers which are personalised to the patient to be used in combination with immunotherapies.
The conference topics seem to exemplify well the effort and resources being devoted to remedies for cancer across the developed world. But drugs are largely about treating the illness after it catches hold. Far better not to have the illness in the first place.
PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE
This old adage has never been more true, but certainly in the UK it has been ignored for too long. And when it comes to cancer, while the remedies today are many times more effective than say 50 years ago, the UK lags sadly behind many developed countries in the rate of positive outcomes. And even worse, recent reports indicate that cancers among younger people in the UK, aged 25-50, are on a dramatic increase. The cause is widely thought to be bad diet, especially the British addiction to ultra processed food, including many popular takeaways.
In a recent article about Obesity and in another about the General Election, Sherbhert highlights that a principal cure for the problems of the NHS and its cost, and for the country’s poor economic productivity lies in preventative medicine. And this mainly means diet. While people are living longer, a lot of the period of middle to old age is spent for many with poor physical health, and medication. That can be changed by people changing their ways. Surely budgets and regulation need to be focussed on changing the way people think of and consume food, from unhealthy to healthy, and from infancy. In this approach lies a big answer to making the NHS efficient and capable of coping with demand. Because with healthy eating demand for NHS treatment will simply go down and go down a lot, as obesity ceases to be a seemingly acceptable norm. Good nutrition will substantially reduce the number of patients with cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other ailments, including joint debilitation. Older people too will make less demands on the NHS. Politicians have paid lip service for too long. The success of the rules reducing sugar in fizzy drinks should inspire a much more rigorous war on bad food.
Bad food is the tobacco of today. A rapid and concerted response, not the drawn-out tooth pulling approach to tobacco, is needed now and generations, including our children and their children, will be better off financially and physically. Combine a healthy dinner with the drugs developments conveyor belt, and applied artificial intelligence in diagnostics, together with a simple exercise routine, and there is real hope for a better tomorrow all round. The continuing blind eye turning to the real nutrition problems besetting the world and the simple solution to it will doom generations to stagnation as well as increased sickness.
1 comment
Great article, it does seem cancer sufferers are on the increase globally and whilst new treatments and research improve, although there is still so much more to be done, prevention is clearly the way forward with healthy and nutritious food. People should also be encouraged to undergo screening as early diagnosis is also important.