In an interview between Medexpress and professor Marek Wojtukiewicz, head of the Oncology Clinic, Medical University in Białystok, we asked about the unmet needs of patients suffering from pancreatic cancer and about the challenges faced by doctors dealing with this group of oncological patients. We asked about effective therapeutic solutions, their mode of action, and the characteristics of this cancer.
MRS
Pancreatic cancer: There is a lack of innovative solutions in Poland
Published Feb. 11, 2022 09:48
• Pancreatic cancer is ranked 10th in terms of its frequency. Still, it ranks much higher in the mortality statistics. Very often patients are diagnosed with an already generalized form of pancreatic cancer.
• About four thousand new cases are registered annually, of which about 3 thousand are people report already with disseminated disease. Statistics show that nearly 20 percent. patients have a chance of surgical treatment, and about 25 percent. is going through a year. Five-year survival rates concern only a few percent of patients.
• The main treatment method is systemic therapy, but it lacks innovative solutions and new drugs. Due to the complex nature of cancer, advances in this area include new forms of drug delivery to patients.
• If there is progression in patients, nanoparticle irinotecan is the most interesting therapeutic solution in the second-line treatment (and the only one that is confirmed in clinical trials). It is a modern drug due to its formula. Drugs administered in nanoparticle form are "trapped" in the lipid bilayer that surrounds the formulation solution. Their general toxicity is reduced, and the molecule goes directly to cancer cells in the pancreas. Not only does the effectiveness of therapy increase, but also the exposure to a chemical substance is extended. The risk of death drops by a third.
• In the group of patients who in the clinical trial received at least 80 percent of the drug dose in the first six weeks, the increase in survival time was 75%, and in the group of patients under 65 years of age with low levels of CA19-9, the survival rates were over annual.
• The drug is financed in several EU countries, but not yet in Poland.
