Groundbreaking bowel cancer trial follow-up shows zero relapses
A CTC-led clinical trial has found that patients with a specific type of bowel cancer remained cancer-free nearly three years after receiving immunotherapy before surgery.
The NEOPRISM-CRC trial tested a short course of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab in patients with stage 2 or 3 bowel cancer with a particular genetic profile. Researchers reported zero relapses after 33 months of follow-up. Given standard treatment, around one in four patients would normally see their cancer return.
Dr Kai-Keen Shiu, Chief Investigator of the trial from UCL Cancer Institute and a Consultant Medical Oncologist at UCLH, said: “Seeing that no patients have experienced a cancer recurrence after almost three years of follow-up is extremely encouraging and strengthens our confidence that pembrolizumab is a safe and highly effective treatment to improve outcomes in patients with high-risk bowel cancers.”
The full story can be read over at UCL News.
Image credit: Mikael Häggström
