Over 40,000 cancer experts gathered in Chicago in the US last week. Doctors, researchers and pharmaceutical companies were there to talk about the diseases that affected more than 38,000 Norwegians last year. During the major conference on cancer research, several advances were presented that can mean a lot to patients all over the world. Chief physician Åslaug Helland was one of the Norwegian experts who were there. Extends life One of the studies that Helland is happy about concerns a medicine that Norwegian patients have already used for several years. The researchers had looked at a subgroup of lung cancer patients who have a change in something called the ALK gene. In Norway, there are between 30 and 50 patients a year who receive that diagnosis. – Those who received that medicine benefit greatly from that treatment even after five years. She says that those with this form of cancer cannot fully recover. That’s why the results are so good. – It has extended the lives of the patients. Åslaug Helland received King Olav V’s cancer research prize in 2023. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB According to Helland, the experts will now discuss when in the course of the disease people should receive the medicine lorlatinib. Faster and better treatment of mole cancer A group of Dutch researchers has looked at two different ways of treating mole cancer that has not yet spread far into the body. The most common treatment has been for the doctors to operate to remove the cancer. Then they have given a year of immunotherapy. But the Dutch study shows that there is a better method. – By instead giving another immunotherapy for two rounds, before operating, the majority of patients received a much shorter course of treatment than before, says Marius Normann. He is the subject manager at the private Cancer Clinic. The treatment time will then be eight to ten weeks, and not a whole year as before. This will have a lot to say for the quality of life for the patients, according to Normann. This is what mole cancer can look like. Stayed healthy for over three years Every year around 500 Norwegians have small cell lung cancer. This is the most aggressive type of lung cancer. 150 have something called limited disease. – There is little that bites on that disease, says Helland. But there is hope. In one study, the patients first received radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Afterwards, they received an immunotherapy. All in all, it is a treatment that aims to make people completely healthy. – Here the difference was almost two years in survival, says Åslaug Helland. 57 percent of those who received the immunotherapy were alive three years into the study. While 48 percent of those who received a placebo lived as long. – I and many of those who sat in the hall when it was presented have patients we have followed. We know many of these patients. So it is really good news that new progress is coming. – Unbelievably good Researchers from several countries have found that tablets against a special type of lung cancer work very well. This applies to a small subgroup of patients who have locally advanced lung cancer and a mutation in the EGFP gene. Usually, these patients receive radiotherapy and chemotherapy, without receiving any more treatment before the cancer eventually starts to grow again. But in the study some of the patients received a targeted tablet in addition. A CT machine is used to take pictures of cancerous tumors in the lungs. Photo: Heidi Fjørtoft Klokk / news The result was a huge difference between those who received the medicine osimertinib and those who received a placebo. This is according to the study published in the New England Medical Journal. The average time they managed without the cancer developing was 39 months, or over three years. While those who received a placebo relapsed after six months or less. – It’s incredibly good. Then people stood up and clapped, says Åslaug Helland. – Is it common at such conferences? – No, it’s rare! Helping cancer patients keep their weight Tora Solheim is a senior physician and professor at St. Olav’s Hospital and NTNU. According to the industry newspaper Healthtalk, she was the only Norwegian researcher who presented something orally at the American conference. Solheim and a team from several countries are trying to find out how they can ensure that cancer patients do not involuntarily lose weight and lose muscle mass. This is called cachexia. Unlike starvation, it is not possible to reverse that condition by nutrition alone. – In the long term, the goal is to find a treatment for this demanding condition that will both help the patients to live longer and to live better, she writes in an e-mail between teaching and patient treatment. In Tora Solheim’s project, she has collaborated with people from different professional environments in different countries. Photo: Sverre Lilleeng / news The cancer patients in her study received either standard treatment with chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Or they received a plan with exercise, the right food and medication against inflammation in addition to the usual cancer treatment. – We see that the patients in the intervention group had an average stable weight and significantly more had weight gain, while those in the control group had an average weight loss. Solheim has not finished the study yet, and will analyze several of the results from there. She believes it is important that there is more knowledge about cachexia. – There are a lot of misunderstandings and a lot of frustration and despair around this topic, both for healthcare personnel, patients and relatives. Future treatment Marius Normann looks forward to the development. – There was a lot of promise that was presented that could be important for Norwegian patients not too long from now, says Normann. Marius Normann would like to use new treatment methods as soon as possible. Photo: Kreftklinikken At the same time, there are several trends that give hope. Among other things, the research on antibodies that are bound together with chemotherapy. This should make the treatments more effective. In Norway, there are a few such medicines that are approved today. But now there are over 300 studies in progress on exactly this, according to Normann. – This is what is being focused on as the next big thing from the pharmaceutical industry. Published 14.06.2024, at 23.28
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