Doctors in the West claim that dostarlimab is a wonderful drug to treat colon cancer without the need for multiple sessions of chemotherapy and surgery. India’s top oncologists are looking into it with the hope that it will improve the survival rate of patients.
Is Dostarlimab Really That Effective?
Dostarlimab is not a new drug but a combination of drugs that are already approved for use in immunotherapy. Dr Harit Chaturvedi, President, Max Institute of Cancer Care, said, “There is a possibility that dostarlimumab may improve the outcome and survival rate in patients with rectal cancer, but it is to be termed as a magic drug for cancer.” Completely dying out.” Oncologist Dr. JB Sharma, Action Cancer Hospital, said the combination had shown positive results when used individually to treat specific cancers. Still, doctors are waiting to expand the clinical trials to a larger group.
Will Indian patients get medicine?
Currently, Indian doctors are generally wary of prescribing dostarlimab to their patients. Experts have called the findings of an ongoing trial optimistic – a group of rectal cancer patients showed no tumor symptoms after taking the drug for six months. None of the participants reported any serious side effects. Still, doctors say they want to assess the duration of the response. “At this time, I will not be giving this medicine to my patients. However, if drug trials start in India, I will explain this to my patients and ask them whether they want to participate in such trials or not,” Dr Chaturvedi said.
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What do we know about clinical trials?
A trial on 18 colorectal cancer patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, US, found that all patients were treated for cancer and could not be detected by physical examination, endoscopy, positron emission tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging. was. Thus, there is an idea that cancer can be treated without chemotherapy or surgery.
What is the burden of rectal cancer?
According to Globocan 2020, the total number of cancer cases reported in India in 2020 was over 1.3 million, which includes 65,358 colorectal cancer cases. Oncologists perform surgery on all patients with solid tumor rectal cancer. There are two treatment protocols for rectal cancer based on disease burden. The first involves giving chemo radiation and then surgery and then chemo therapy. The second involves chemo radiation followed by chemo therapy and finally surgery.
Is it too early to celebrate?
Cancer experts said early signs show how precision medicine is shaping the future, but they need to test more patients in different areas and in other types of cancer. “The combination of drugs was administered for a small number of patients and for a specific type of cancer,” Dr Sharma said. Dr Abhishek Shankar, Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna said that we should wait to know the treatment status and disease free period.