Scientists claim that Gazyva, a new leukemia drug, can kill around 90 percent of cancer cells in just one dose.
Leukemia usually starts in the bone marrow and results in high number of abnormal white blood cells. Leukemia is also referred as blood cancer as the disease affects the blood cells of an affected. The blood cancer affects thousands of people worldwide and is one of the most common types of cancer in young children.
Once leukemia is detected, some treatments may be available for the patients. The most common leukemia treatment is chemotherapy, which may be used alone or in combination with other treatments such as bone marrow transplant, radiation therapy, Interferon therapy (immunotherapy) and surgery-splenectomy (removal of the spleen).
A specific combination may be advised by a doctor depending on individual cases. Previously, the average life expectancy of leukemia patients was between three to seven years. However, advancement in treatments has also increased the life expectancy of leukemia patients even more.
A new drug Gazyva brings in a glimmer of hope for leukemia patients as it can kill around 90 percent of the leukemia cancer cells with just one doze.
Edward McNabb, a 70-year old man from Melbourne, was the first to get Gazyva under a clinical trial. He reveals that the drug comes with many side effects and sends a patient to a semiconscious state; however, it is very effective to knock out the cancer cells.
"My eyeballs were about to explode out of my skull, they stopped the infusion and threw me on the trolley and attached monitors," says McNabb. "I had massive pins and needles from the top of my head to my toes, went into a daze and was semiconscious."
Professor Stephen Opat, McNabb's doctor, revealed that he did not expect the drug to work so effectively and quickly. Professor Opat also re-affirmed that as the drug kills cancer cells at a very rapid pace it can make a patient very sick.
Professor Opat had 10 more patients in the clinical trials and he reduced the first dosage of the drug in later trials. The researchers also pointed out towards a previous study that revealed that a combination of Gazyva and chemotherapy also reduced the progression of cancer cells.
Gazyva is approved for use in Australia but the drug has not been subsidised by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Patients will have to spend $42,000 if they wish to get treated with the drug.
The study is very significant step forward in the treatment of leukemia.
