AN immunotherapy drug could spare bowel cancer patients the need for surgery and chemotherapy after results showed it was effective in 100 per cent of cases. Jemperli , also called dostarlimab, from GSK showed "unprecedented results", the firm said, with no evidence of disease in all patients treated. Everyone on the medication had locally advanced mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) rectal cancer, a form of bowel cancer, according to data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago .
Jemperli is already approved on the NHS for women with some types of advanced or recurrent womb cancer . The data showed all 42 patients in a trial led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in the US had a complete response to treatment, with no evidence of tumours on scans. The first 24 patients have been followed up so far for just over 26 months on average.
Studies suggest (dMMR) rectal cancer accounts for five to 10 per cent of all rectal cancers. Hesham Abdullah, a senior vice president at GSK, said: "The data showing no evidence of disease in 42 patients is remarkable. "These results bring us one step closer to understanding the potential of dostarlimab in this curative-intent setting for patients with dMMR locally advanced rectal cancer.
"We look forward to evaluating dostarlimab in certain colorectal cancers in our ongoing AZUR-1 and AZUR-2 registrational studies." The current standard of care for patients with this type of cancer is chemotherapy .
