An experimental drug appeared to eliminate rectal cancer in an unprecedented study, according to The New York Times.
A group of 18 patients took a drug called Dostarlimab for about six months, and in the end, each of them saw their tumors go away.
In an interview with the New York Times, Dr. Luis Diaz, author of an article, said he did not recall any other study in which cancer was eliminated in patients.
“I think this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer,” Diaz added.
According to the NY Times, the patients, who were part of the study, had previously undergone strenuous treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation, and most likely life-altering surgery that could lead to bowel, urinary, and sexual dysfunction. .
Dr. Alan Venook, a colorectal cancer specialist at the University of California, told the newspaper that a complete remission in each patient was “unheard of.”
Venook praised the research as a world first, noting that the absence of significant side effects meant that “either [patients] he didn’t treat enough patients or somehow these cancers are just different. “
However, in an editorial accompanying the paper, Dr. Hanna K. Sanoff of the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, which was not affiliated with the study, described it as “small but compelling,” but to say it was unclear whether the patients were cured.
“Very little is known about the length of time it takes to find out if a complete clinical response to dostarlimab is equivalent to a cure,” Sanoff said.