A ‘breakthrough’ combination of drugs is set to give hope to thousands of patients with kidney cancer, scientists will announce today.
They have discovered that combining two powerful agents has the potential to clear tumours from patients.
A small-scale trial found that giving ipilimumab and nivolumab together cleared tumours from up to a tenth of patients whose kidney cancer had spread to other organs, after a four-month treatment regime.
The combination also shrank tumours in 40 per cent of these patients – a higher response rate than achieved with drugs currently available on the NHS.
The discovery has been hailed as a breakthrough by scientists, and gives hope to thousands of kidney cancer patients
Professor John Wagstaff, of Swansea University Medical School, said: ‘I think this is probably a breakthrough.
‘It has the potential to improve and prolong the lives of thousands of patients.’
About 12,000 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer in Britain each year and it claims the lives of 4,400 annually.
Prof Wagstaff hoped the apparent benefit of combining ipilimumab and nivolumab would be confirmed in subsequent trials.
Malcolm Packer, of charity Kidney Cancer UK, said: ‘We welcome the progress now being made in fighting kidney cancer, because there are so few options at the moment.’
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