Breakthrough Cancer Treatment: UK Scientists Unveil Remarkable New Drug

Scientists in the United Kingdom have made a groundbreaking discovery with a new drug that promises a revolutionary breakthrough in the treatment of a hard-to-manage and aggressive form of cancer. The development, hailed as “truly wonderful,” comes from researchers at Queen Mary University London, who have reported that their innovative treatment has quadrupled three-year survival rates and extended the average survival period by 1.6 months. This new drug, designed to cut off the tumor’s food supply, marks the first of its kind for mesothelioma in the last two decades, as revealed in the publication of their findings in the journal JAMA Oncology.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that is mainly caused by asbestos exposure.

Mesothelioma, a lethal cancer that originates in the lungs and is primarily linked to asbestos exposure in the workplace, boasts one of the world’s lowest cancer survival rates. Globally, thousands of individuals receive a mesothelioma diagnosis annually, with approximately 2,700 new cases reported each year in the UK alone.

The groundbreaking international trial conducted by researchers at Queen Mary University of London spanned five countries, including the US, the UK, Australia, Italy, and Taiwan. Led by Professor Peter Szlosarek at Queen Mary, the study involved all patients receiving chemotherapy every three weeks for up to six cycles. Half of the participants received injections of the novel drug ADI-PEG20 (pegargiminase), while the other half were administered a placebo for two years.

The trial, named ATOMIC-meso, took place at 43 centers across the five countries from 2017 to 2021. The final analysis included 249 individuals with pleural mesothelioma, the variant affecting the lining of the lungs, with an average age of 70.

Results from the study revealed that patients who received pegargiminase and chemotherapy survived an average of 9.3 months, compared to 7.7 months for those who received the placebo and chemotherapy. The “progression-free survival” was also higher with pegargiminase-chemotherapy, standing at 6.2 months, compared to 5.6 months for patients on the placebo and chemotherapy.

“In this pivotal, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial in 249 patients with pleural mesothelioma, pegargiminase-chemotherapy increased significantly the median overall survival by 1.6 months and quadrupled the survival at 36 months compared to placebo-chemotherapy,” the authors noted. They further emphasized the well-tolerated nature of pegargiminase-based chemotherapy, with no new safety signals reported.

Researchers highlighted that this marks the first successful combination of chemotherapy with a drug targeting cancer’s metabolism for this disease in two decades. The new drug operates by depleting arginine levels in the bloodstream, hindering the growth of tumor cells that cannot produce their own arginine.

Professor Szlosarek expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “It’s truly wonderful to see the research into the arginine starvation of cancer cells come to fruition. This discovery is something I have been driving from its earliest stages in the lab, with a new treatment, ADI-PEG20, now improving patient lives affected by mesothelioma.”