Dostarlimab: The miracle drug that might cure Cancer

Even though Covid was at its peak in 2020, the United States reported more deaths because of Cancer than Covid. Cancer has been one of the leading causes of death all over the world, reporting around 10 million deaths in the year 2020 alone. Cancer is a devastating disease that affects people of all ages, genders, and races. It's important to remember that even though Covid is a major health concern, cancer is still a very real threat.?

Although there are some treatments available that can help with the suffering and increase the life of the patient, it does not work as much as we would like them to work. There were so many efforts to find a cure for the disease, but none of them showed us the results that we hoped for until now.

A couple of days back, the news of a cancer drug trial came out. Turns out the trial was successful and the patients who were enrolled in it are cancer free. The drug named Dostarlimab has helped treat rectal cancer in the enrolled patients.?

What is Dostarlimb?

Dostarlimab is an experimental drug that showed promise in a recent clinical study. It contains laboratory-produced molecules that act as substitute antibodies. The drug is sold under the brand name Jemperli and was approved for medical use in the United States and the European Union in 2021.

Dostarlimab is a monoclonal antibody that works by “unmasking” cancer cells, which makes them visible to the immune system. This allows the body to identify and destroy cancer cells more effectively. Dostarlimab still needs a lot of testing, but the early results of the recent study are promising.?

The study that was conducted involved 18 patients who had locally spread cancer. This means that cancer had not yet spread to other parts of the body. The patients who took part in the study had been planning to undergo various treatments like radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and even surgery. These treatments could have severe side effects on the patient's body.

After receiving treatment with Dostarlimab, none of the patients showed any signs of cancer. This is an impressive result and suggests that Dostarlimab could be a potentially effective treatment for locally spread cancer. Further studies will be needed to confirm these results and to assess the safety and efficacy of Dostarlimab in a larger number of patients.

What do you need to know about the Dostarlimab trial?

The experimental drug was tried on 18 patients with rectal cancer admitted to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, US. Although it was tried on only a small group of people, it still brings hope to all the patients all over the world.

According to the New York Times, every dose of this drug cost $11,000. All 18 patients were given the Dostarlimab drug every three weeks for 6 months. By the end of the trial, the patients went through a thorough examination to analyze their progress. Even with PET scans, MRI scans, endoscopy, positron emission tomography, and physical exams, they could not find any sign of the tumor in any of the patients.?

After the clinical trial, the patients were able to discontinue chemotherapy and radiation, which had been painful treatments they underwent to manage their cancer.

Patients showed no post-treatment complications or signs of recurrence of cancer until 25 months from the end of the trial.

Written by Rutuja Kawade