New immune drugs show long-term survival for deadly cancers

Two new immune drugs for some of the deadly cancers, respectively named Keytruda and Opdivo, could help patients live years longer than those receiving older treatments, a clinical trial study said.

The study showed that Keytruda drug, a product of U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Merck & Co, helped about 40 percent of patients with advanced melanoma cancer survive at least three years. Meanwhile, Bristol-Myers demonstrated that Opdivo drug can prolong life for a significant number of patients with advanced lung cancer by at least two years.

It was a boon for cancer therapy and would boost confidence for patients who face dismal chances of living for more than a few months.

"For 40 percent of melanoma patients to be alive at three years is a big deal," Dr. Daniel Hayes, an oncologist from the University of Michigan said in the study released on Wednesday.

Before the appearance of the new drug, the deadly skin cancer had no effective treatments. Most patients died less than a year after the disease spread to other parts of the body.

In a pair of lung cancer studies, 23 percent of those who received Opdivo were alive two years after beginning therapy, 15 percent higher than those treated with the standard chemotherapy.

Nick Botwood, development chief for lung and head and neck cancers at Bristol-Myers, said they were ready to provide the drug to as many patients as possible.

Keytruda and Opdivo are among the first wave of successful immuno-oncology drugs with a list price of around 150,000 U.S. dollars a year. Scientists said the two drugs were also being tested against a wide variety of cancers, and in combinations with many other medicines. Endi