Finally the deal is done for skin cancer. The treatment was having “spectacular” effects on patients and could be used for other types of cancer.
Around one in six sufferers were being cured by the drugs, which boost the immune system.
Each year almost 13,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with a type of cancer called melanoma.
It kills 2,200 a year, accounting for 80% of skin cancer deaths. The number of cases has quadrupled in 30 years partly due to sunbathing.
But Prof Alexander Eggermont, of the Gustave Roussy research centre, in Paris, said: “Advanced melanoma could become a curable disease for perhaps more than 50% of patients within five to 10 years.
“If I’d made this bizarre prediction five years ago, people would have said I was mad.”
If spotted early, lethal moles can be cut out before the cancer spreads. But if missed, the chances of survival plummet.
This all changes with the new drugs. British experts have hailed the breakthrough, but stressed it was still early days.
Professor Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, said: “We have always thought that if you can get the immune system to respond to a tumour, then it’s likely to be a long-lasting effect.
“So it’s very exciting that we are starting to see it working.” Daily Star reports.
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