Professor Paul Workman from the London Institute of Cancer Research recently revealed that the latest research in the department could make cancer a manageable disease. Although it’s not a sure-fire cure, it certainly will help to manage it as a long-term disease like HIV or asthma.
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He said that patients will have to take a combination of medicines to stop the disorder from becoming fatal. Neoplastic growths or cancers tend to adapt and show resistance to drugs being administered. As a result, the tumours grow, spread rapidly and kill the patient.
London institute develops drugs to stop cancer growth
However, there is hope on the horizon. The team at the London Institute has managed to identify the cause of these changes and they seem to be confident that certain drugs can stop this progression. Professor Workman said that it would effectively be a cure for cancer.
He said that patients would receive a mix of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery. They will take the medicine and stop cancer cells from growing. He revealed that the aim of this study is to control the disease enough to stop it from killing the person.
Professor Workman said that the new drugs will be tested and it may take about 10 years for them to be launched in the market. He added,
“We firmly believe we can find ways to make cancer a manageable disease in the long term and one that is more often curable.”
Cultural change required
He also added that for patients to stop worrying about the presence of cancer cells in their body, it would require a ‘cultural change’.
Dr Olivia Rossanese, also from the institute, said:
“We believe this will be the first treatment in the world that rather than dealing with the consequences of cancer’s evolution and resistance, aims to directly confront the disease’s ability to adapt and evolve in the first place.”
The team has said that the drugs will now be entering clinical trials and should be in the market in about 10 years.
