‘Wonder drug’ rekindles hope for cancer cure

• But experts urge caution saying the drug, Ipilimumab, needs more tests

The war against prostate cancer could soon be won if a drug developed in America works.

The drug, Ipilimumab, developed at the Mayo Clinic in the US, is said to have had such an unexpected effect on patients who agreed to the clinical trials that researchers decided to release the details of the two cases before the tests were even complete.

According to the UK’s Independent newspaper, two patients with inoperable prostate cancer made dramatic recoveries after receiving a single dose of the experimental drug. The two were part of 108 men who had volunteered to undergo clinical tests of the drug at the clinic.

The Ipilimumab trial is being equated to that of the first pilot breaking the sound barrier.

“This is one of the Holy Grails of prostate cancer research. We have been looking for this for years,” said Dr Eugene Kwon, the urologist in charge of the two men’s treatment on a report appearing on Discovery’s Edge, the clinic’s online research magazine.

Another member of the team, according to a Mayo Clinic report, was so surprised by the outcome of the treatment that he asked his colleagues if they were certain that tissue samples they were looking at were from the same patients.

Through the use of the drug as well as hormone and radiation treatments, the otherwise aggressive tumours in the two patients were eliminated even though they had already spread to the patients’ abdominal areas.

Both patients are now said to be cancer-free. The Minnesota-based clinic is regarded as one of the top medical centres in the world. If the drug proves to be successful, it will have far-reaching effects in the well-being of the male population.

Leading cause

The World Health Organisation lists cancer as the leading cause of death globally, accounting for 13 per cent — 7.9 million — of all deaths annually. More than 2.3 million of these deaths could have been prevented.

Cancer specialists estimate that the annual cancer deaths are in the thousands and prostate cancer is third biggest killer after cervical and breast cancer. Among men, however, prostrate cancer is the number one killer.

“From the sparse data we get from private practice and our own hospice data, annual deaths are well into their thousands, but we know they are much higher because more than half of cancer fatalities are never reported,” said Dr John Weru of the Nairobi Hospice.

Anne Korrir of the National Cancer Registry also said the correct national picture as far as prostate cancer is concerned has never been captured.

“We mainly deal with data collected from in and around Nairobi and other major towns around the country. Many more afflicted with the disease do not get to the diagnosis stage, as they are unable to reach a health facility. Others are simply misdiagnosed,” she said.

Though many men suffer from prostate cancer in their twilight years, the cancer usually does not progress quickly enough to become life-threatening.