Chemo Misery may be Ended by New Drug

A new cancer treatment that can safely deliver extremely high chemotherapy doses with minimal side effects has been developed by scientists.

Excited scientists say the new-generation drug, to be announced at a leading cancer conference this week, could be used effectively against many types of tumour, reports the Daily Express.

Chemotherapy - History, Principles, Aim, Types, Side Effcts, Pros & Cons
'Chemo' means medicine or 'drug', 'therapy' means 'treatment'. Chemotherapy refers to the use of cytotoxic drugs in the treatment of cancer.

The treatment, which has proved successful in trials on breast cancer patients, combines traditional chemotherapy with another new-generation drug that directly targets cancer cells.

Scientists have likened the treatment, code named T-DM1, to a Trojan horse because a killer drug is protected by another chemical and only activated once it hits enemy cancer cells.

This means only malignant cells are destroyed so patients have far fewer side effects associated with chemotherapy, including hair loss, weakened immune system and nausea.

About Chemotherapy Drugs
Chemotherapy drugs perform like ‘magic bullets’ to destroy cancer cells in the body.

The technology has been developed by US based Immunogen in combination with drug giant Roche.

"We are encouraged by the results," said Edith Perez of Mayo Clinic.

Colo-rectal Cancer - Management
Treatment for Colorectal Cancers may involve surgery,chemotherapy, radiation therapy or biological therapy. Some people require a combination of treatments.

"The study demonstrated that T-DM1 has very good anti-tumor activity as well as much lower toxicity," she added.

The new findings would be presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology conference in Milan.

Source-ANI