Cancer News
New pill can extend
remission for blood
cancer patients
AML treatment might ‘represent a new
therapeutic standard’
A
WHO urges developing
countries to ramp up cancer
treatment
Low- and middle-income countries bear the brunt of global rise
in cancer cases
T
he World Health Organization has called on low- and middle-income
countries to step up cancer services in the face of an anticipated 60
percent global increase in cancer cases over the next two decades.
Developing countries, where survival rates are lowest, will see an 81
percent growth in cancer cases over this period, the WHO warned.
Developing countries typically need to focus their limited health
resources on combating infectious diseases and improving maternal
and child health, meaning health services are not equipped to prevent,
diagnose, and treat cancers.
Last year, more than 90 percent of high-income countries reported
that comprehensive treatment services for cancer were available in their
public health systems. This compares to less than 15 percent of low-
income countries.
“This is a wake-up call to all of us to tackle the unacceptable
inequalities between cancer services in rich and poor countries,” Dr Ren
Minghui, a WHO assistant director-general, told the media.
“If people have access to primary care and referral systems, then
cancer can be detected early, treated effectively, and cured. Cancer
should not be a death sentence for anyone, anywhere,” he said.
At least seven million lives could be saved over the next decade by
introducing universal healthcare coverage and giving patients treatment
more specific to their cancer, the WHO believes.
It urges governments to make appropriate innovative cancer
therapies available to their populations given that established
treatments, many of which are very effective and affordable, can provide
beneficial treatments for cancer without causing financial hardship.
32
MARCH 2020
n investigational drug can extend the survival of
adults with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a fatal
blood cancer, according to results from a large clinical
trial. The drug, CC-486, is related to another leukaemia
therapy, azacitidine, under the brand name Vidaza.
The advantage of CC-486 pills is that they can
be taken at home, whereas azacitidine is given as
an injection under the skin or as an infusion and is
administered at a hospital or doctor’s office. Azacitidine
is used to treat patients with some types of blood
cancer, either alone or in combination with other drugs.
In the new study, CC-486 was tested as a
maintenance therapy for adults with AML who were in
remission after receiving aggressive chemotherapy.
Many adults with AML go into remission after
initial therapy. But for most, the cancer typically
returns — even if they’re subsequently given additional
chemotherapy. The returning AML is more difficult to
treat, and most patients die within a few months.
CC-486 is the first maintenance therapy that can
extend how long patients remain in remission following
initial treatment, according to the trial’s lead investigator,
Dr Andrew Wei of the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
What this landmark clinical trial and others have
shown is that the cancer genome is finite and knowable,
but also enormously complicated. By combining
sequencing of the whole cancer genome with a suite of
analytical tools, scientists can characterise every genetic
change found in a cancer, all the processes that have
generated those mutations, and even the order of key
events during a cancer’s life history.
“We hope that maintenance therapy with CC-486
might represent a potential new therapeutic standard,”
Dr Wei told a meeting of the American Society of
Hematology.
The study has been described as “important and
exciting” and shows a role for a drug that is relatively
easy to tolerate. The researchers say they now need to
learn more about how best to use CC-486 and how to
manage its side effects.
GlobalHealthAndTravel.com