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| Roche melanoma pill spurs growth of other cancers |
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A new study helps explain why up to a third of advanced melanoma patients who take Roche Holding's pill Zelboraf develop a less deadly form of skin cancer known as cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, and points to a potential fix. {Comments: The FDA approved Roche Holding’s Zelboraf in August 2011 for treatment of late stage melanoma. An interesting point is that the approval was awarded with full knowledge that there is a higher risk of another type of skin cancer associated with this drug. Zelboraf is approved specifically for treatment of melanoma patients with BRAF V600E gene mutation. This gene abnormality is present in 50% of the melanoma patients whose cancer has spread. Zelboraf works in only 50% of all the patients who take it, and in 25% of those it causes another type of skin cancer requiring further treatment. In addition, patients develop resistance to Zelboraf, which increases life expectancy only by a few months. Zelboraf is expected to become a blockbuster melanoma drug. Roche is charging $56,400 for a six month treatment and sales projections are $1.5 billion. In the developing area of gene-based personalized cancer treatment, it is a bold step from the FDA to process an expedited approval for a drug as expensive as Zelboraf and with well-known association with another cancer. The drug was approved at the same time as the BRAF Mutation Test received approval from the FDA. It is little consolation that both the drug and the test kit were approved much earlier than their expected time and both are manufactured by Roche Group. Melanoma is more dangerous than the squamous cell carcinoma that surfaces after treatment with Zelboraf, and in a recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have uncovered the reason for such an effect. Zelboraf works by blocking a certain protein (BRAF) in melanoma cells, however that same mechanism stimulates a critical step in initiating another type of skin cancer. The melanoma cells that also have another type of mutation (RAS) are more prone to develop the squamous cell cancer, and 60% of such melanoma cells are known to already have the RAS mutation. This means that a greater number of squamous cell carcinomas would arise if Zelboraf is continued for melanoma patients. As appropriately put by one of the experts, "In one case it inhibits cancer growth, and in another it makes the malignant cells grow faster." In addition, patients develop a resistance to Zelboraf within a few months meaning the drug stops working for the initial cancer and the patient then has another type of cancer to deal with. While the FDA is encouraging personalized cancer therapy, it is also important to consider the effects of such hasty decisions. If the new drugs only produce more cancers, such approvals benefit none other than pharmaceutical companies. There is already a potential drug on the horizon that claims combining it with Zelboraf may reduce the secondary cancer. It is another typical pharmaceutical “business with disease” model. On the other hand, this latest information neglects other very important aspects in combating cancer. Optimal nutritional support is very important in blocking the progress of aggressive diseases such as cancer. Scientists from Dr. Rath's Research Institute have consistently proven the health benefits of vitamin C, lysine, proline, and green tea extract with other synergistic nutrients in different types of cancers including melanoma. These nutrients are not only safe, but they also act in similar ways to stop the metastasis of cancer by strengthening collagen tissue, selectively killing cancer cells and other aspects. Dr. Rath's research publications in melanoma and other cancers are present at www.drrathresearch.org} |