A Short Course of Immunotherapy Left Bowel Cancer Patients Cancer-Free for Nearly Three Years
In a UK trial, a few weeks of treatment before surgery worked so well that some patients didn't need surgery at all.
In the NEOPRISM-CRC trial led by researchers at UCL and UCLH, 32 patients with a specific genetic subtype of stage two or three colorectal cancer received up to nine weeks of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab before surgery, instead of chemotherapy afterward.
The results were striking: patients have stayed cancer-free for nearly three years, and some responded so completely that surgery turned out to be unnecessary — a glimpse of a gentler, more effective way to treat the disease.