Cancer treatment is becoming more precise through personalised therapies. A survey of more than 1000 people with cancer found that over a third had received genetically targeted drug treatments or immunotherapy.
鈥淕oing back 20 years, the vast majority of cancer patients who had treatment for their disease were on traditional, one-size-fits-all chemotherapy 鈥� with targeted drugs practically unknown, and immunotherapy the stuff of science fiction,鈥� said Rajesh Chopra at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, in a statement.
The survey of 1064 people, all of whom received cancer treatments from the ICR between 4 March and 15 April 2019, suggests that trend is changing.
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Overall, 32 per cent of the respondents said they had received either a targeted drug therapy, immunotherapy or both 鈥� with nearly a quarter having had targeted drug therapy and 11 per cent receiving immunotherapy.
The use of these more precise therapies was particularly high for people who were treated for melanoma or leukaemia. Among those treated for melanoma, 66 per cent said they had received immunotherapy while just 5 per cent had undergone chemotherapy. For those with leukaemia, 53 per cent received targeted drugs while 43 per cent had chemotherapy.
This may be due to good progress in developing targeted treatments for these two cancers.聽Pancreatic, liver, oesophageal and brain cancer haven鈥檛 had as many new drugs or therapies developed in recent years.
