Pancreatic cancer is considered a largely incurable disease with the one year survival rate at 20% and the five year survival rate at only 4%. These numbers reflect the challenge of treating pancreatic cancer and the need for new innovative drugs. Recent research reported this week by Healthday News on a new drug, AMG 479, shows promise for treatment of this deadly cancer. Because insulin-like growth factor is known to play a role in cancer growth, AMG 479 is subsequently designed to interfere with the activity of insulin-like growth factors, specifically IGF-1 and IGF-2. This is the first drug found to interfere with these factors without cross reacting with the closely related insulin receptor. Researchers reported an 80% inhibition rate of tumor growth. Consequently AMG 479 appears to be an excellent candidate to be used alone or in combination with Gemcitabine, the only current available treatment for pancreatic cancer which has not yet shown to increase survival rates. Future research on this promising treatment for pancreatic cancer is certainly needed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment