A revolutionary type of treatment has offered hope that in time, cancer will cease to be the deadly disease it is today.
New research into personalised medicine has led scientists to deduce that treatments designed specifically for each patient, may be the key to curing the killer disease.
Researchers are developing genetic tests to identify changes in tumours that could lead to individual treatments tailored for each patient.
Cancer Research UK are currently working with two leading pharmaceutical companies to launch a specially designed clinical trial.
This trial will start recruiting patients with advanced lung cancer at 18 UK centres this summer.
Harpal Kumar, chief executive at Cancer Research UK, said: “If it is successful, as we suspect it will be, we would fully expect to roll this out to other types of cancer thereafter.”
Once the genetics of each lung tumour is determined, patients will be given a specific drug to target their type of cancer.
Researchers will then watch for signs of improvement, including tumour shrinkage and lessening of symptoms.
Dr Kumar said: “This is a very important step forward in the fight against cancer.
“This partnership is exciting because we’re trying to achieve something that none of us could manage alone – targeting treatments towards the patients who we know are the most likely to benefit.”
Up to 14 drugs could be used during the initial two-year trial, 12 from AstraZeneca and two from Pfizer, which with Cancer Research UK are jointly funding the £25 million trial, alongside support from the NHS.
Menelas Pangalos, executive vice president of innovative medicines and early development at AstraZeneca said: “In the next decade we might see some of these tumour types become chronic illnesses.
“Combining immunotherapies with targeted therapies could ultimately give us a potential cure. Hopefully that will lead to people living with cancer for years.
“If we start to understand what is driving the tumour we could start to offer patients treatments that prolong their life.”
“We know that every patient’s cancer is unique, so we’re moving away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach and striving for more personalised treatment. We are shifting the emphasis from designing a trial around a specific drug, to designing it around selecting from a range of drugs for a specific patient.”
