A smart drug that stops cancer cells “hiding” from treatment can shrink tumours by at least 30% in six of the world’s most common forms of the disease, early trial results show.
While immunotherapy treatments have improved survival rates for many patients, their effectiveness can stall or fail when tumour cells hide and then spread.
Researchers in Oxford have developed a drug designed to stop cancer cells concealing themselves from the immune system, allowing immunotherapy treatments to identify and destroy them.
In a trial spanning the UK, France, Spain and Australia, 83 patients with cervical, bladder, liver, bowel, lung or head and neck cancers were given the experimental drug, GRWD5769, alongside the immunotherapy treatment cemiplimab.