A cancer trial’s unexpected result: Remission in every patient
This is misleading. Yes, the response rate is extremely high but all of this patients shared a mutation or a group of mutations in mismatch repair proteins (they were all MMR deficient, or mismatch instability high).<p>This effect is shared across many tumors with this feature not only rectal and the FDA approved a drug with the same exact mechanism in 2017 (<a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resources-information-approved-drugs/fda-grants-accelerated-approval-pembrolizumab-first-tissuesite-agnostic-indication" rel="nofollow">https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resources-information-approved-dru...</a>)<p>If I had to guess this is a huge marketing plot to bring yet another extremely expensive drug to the market. What is happening is that different drugs (ie different companies) take the space of a specific tumor (Keytruda for lung, Opdivo for melanoma, Tecentriq for liveer cancer) and Dostarlimab is going to claim the rectal cancer space.