Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide that accounted for 10 million deaths in 2020 or nearly one sixth of the total deaths. As pandemic took over the world there were less screening for patients and though there might not be immediate consequences but we will face them in next 5 to 10 years. Several types of cancer prevails and some of the most common are breast, colon, rectal ,
colorectal, lung cancer etc.
But amidst all these issues the clinical trial in Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Centre on 12 rectal cancer patients astonished everyone in the world. Dostarlimab , a monoclonal antibody drug was administered every 3 weeks for 6 months intravenously for 30 minutes by Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr and team. The patients were to undergo different treatment like radiotherapy and chemotherapy after
the 1st trial of the drug as they did not expect such great results but in the end they did not need it.
The drug eliminated the tumour completely. After 25 months of the trial the patients showed no signs of recurring tumours and are healthy. It’s the first time in history of cancer research and development to eradicate the tumour completely within the 1st clinical trial.
Tesaro, a biotech company based out of Massachusetts developed the drug. Tesaro was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline in 2019, Dostarlimab is also known by the brand name Jemparli. Dostarlimab was first developed to treat women with recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer. The drug works by unmasking the cancer cells which helps the immune system to identify and destroy them.
Dostarlimab is a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)- blocking antibody which blocks the PD-1 site of the T cells thus preventing the attachment of the programmed death ligand 1 or 2 ( PD-L1 or PD- L2) of the tumour cell. At the end of the trial, cancer was checked for and remained undetected through physical exam, endoscopy, positron emission tomography or PET scans or MRI scans.
Undoubtably there will be further researches and application of the drug. The success of Dostarlimab for now has given the doctors, scientist, and researchers a greater hope to eliminate cancer in the near future.
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