Dostarlimab: The New Wonder Cancer Drug

Context

Recently in a medical trial, 12 patients in the United States (US) were completely cured of rectal cancer without requiring any surgery or chemotherapy.

Key-Findings

• It could completely cure the patients with a particular kind of rectal cancer called ‘mismatch repair deficient’ cancer.
• All 12 patients had completed the treatment and were followed for six to 25 months after.
• No cases of progression or recurrence had been reported during the follow-up.
• The response too was rapid, with symptoms resolving in 81% of the patients within nine weeks of starting the therapy.

What is Dostarlimab?

• Dostarlimab is an experimental drug. It contains laboratory-produced molecules.
• It acts as substitute antibodies. It is sold under the brand name Jemperli.
• It was approved for medical use in the United States and the European Union in 2021.
• Its side-effects include vomiting, joint pain, itching, rash, fever etc.

How does this drug cure?

• It is a protein that regulates immune function and can sometimes keep T cells from killing cancer cells. 
• The therapy in the trial used PD1 blockades, allowing T cells to kill cancer cells. 
• The immunotherapy belongs to this category called PD1 blockades that are now recommended for the treatment of such cancers rather than chemotherapy or radiotherapy. 
• It is most common among colorectal, gastrointestinal, and endometrial cancers. 
• Patients suffering from this condition lack the genes to correct typos in the DNA that occur naturally while cells make copies.
• It results in cancerous growths in patients with mismatch repair deficient cancers. 
• India has a couple of PD1 blockades available, although not the one used for this study.

Significance

• Eliminating other treatments can improve a patient’s quality of life by preserving fertility, sexual health, and bladder and bowel functions.
• Earlier, this therapy was used post-surgery, but the study has shown that a surgery may not be required.
• Although the therapy is usually used for cancers that have metastasis (spread to locations other than where the cancer formed), it is now recommended for all mismatch repair deficient cancers as they result in quicker improvement and lesser toxicity as compared to traditional chemo and radiotherapy.