For colorectal cancer, which is difficult to treat, two types of drugs that target cancer cells with specific gene mutations were administered, and the results of a clinical trial showed that the cancer shrank in about 30% of patients. Announced by the National Cancer Center.
It may be the first effective treatment.
Colorectal cancer is the cancer with the largest number of patients in Japan, but only a few percent have a mutation in the gene called "HER2" that is involved in the growth of cancer cells, and the drug has been shown to be effective. Was neither domestic nor overseas.
Research groups such as the National Cancer Center Hospital East call it a "molecular-targeted drug" that targets cancer cells with a HER2 mutation in 30 patients with advanced colorectal cancer who have a mutation in this gene. We conducted a clinical trial to confirm the effect by administering two types of drugs at the same time.
As a result, the effectiveness was confirmed, with cancer shrinking in about 30% of patients and almost disappearing in some patients.
It is said that it may be the first effective treatment method by combining it with a diagnostic method that examines the presence or absence of mutations from blood, and the pharmaceutical company has applied for approval to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare as a new treatment method.
Dr. Noriaki Nakamura of the National Cancer Center Hospital East said, "I think it was difficult for companies to take the initiative in developing treatments for a small number of types of cancer, and I think it was a breakthrough. I'm looking forward to it. "