Cancer treatment used by GP chief Ron Walker raises hope

Published by Grant McArthur in the Herald Sun, August 15th 2013 –

THE drug Ron Walker says is saving his life is fuelling hopes around the world as a promising new approach to overcoming cancer.

Early trial results from two Australian trials of lambrolizumab have raised expectations of the drug, while international research has been so promising US regulators have awarded the treatment “breakthrough status" so its development can be fast-tracked.

But its developer, Merck, warns the anti-PD-1 drug is only in the early stages of testing and would take about four years before it is available in Australia if it proves successful and meets regulatory conditions.

Results of a trial presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed the drug was able to shrink tumours in 38 per cent of the 135 advanced melanoma patients involved in the trial, and in 52 per cent of patients receiving higher doses.

Merck medical director Dr Gary Jankelowtz said the results, as well as the drug’s adaptability to combat a broad range of cancers, had captured the attention of oncologists and the US Food and Drug Administration.

“It (FDA breakthrough status) really allows expedited development and expedited registration. They have looked at it, they believe there is a lot of unmet clinical need and they are prepared to try and fast-track things through the FDA," Dr Jankelowtz said.

“But we are still at least two to three years away in the US and maybe even longer in Australia."

Grand Prix boss Mr Walker revealed his involvement in the trials after his melanoma spread to his lungs, saying the experimental treatment in Australia and the US had proved very successful.

While traditional cancer drugs have focused on fighting tumours, lambrolizumab is one of a new generation of drugs designed to restart the patient’s immune system, which is switched off by a cancer protein called PD-1.

Mr Walker’s oncologist, Prof Grant McArthur from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, said the new approach of activating the immune system was an exciting new frontier.

“Cancers are clever and are able to turn off the immune response but, if you can unlock that signal that the cancer is using to turn off the immune system, then that can really activate the patient’s own defence system to fight the cancer," Prof McArthur said.

“Rather than put a drug into the body that kills the cancer cells, this is actually turning off the brake that the cancer has put on the body’s defences.

“The early results are extremely promising and we think it might change the future direction of how we treat cancer."

* Prof Grant McArthur is no relation to the author