Indian-Origin Woman 'Cancer-Free' After Successful 2-Year Drug Trial In UK. NHS Names Drug

The trial participants were administered an experimental medicine combined with Atezolizumab, an immunotherapy drug. Jasmin David David continues to have the drug every three weeks. 

Indian-origin woman Jasmin David is cancer-free following an experimental NHS trial.

An Indian-origin woman is showing no evidence of breast cancer following a clinical trial at a hospital in the United Kingdom, according to the doctors who treated her. A few years ago, she was told that she would survive only for a few months. 

After the successful National Health Service (NHS) trial, Jasmin David is looking forward to celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary in September this year, according to a report published by news agency PTI. 

David Underwent A Two-Year NHS Trial 

David, 51, is from Fallowfield in Manchester. She underwent a two-year trial at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at Christie NHS Foundation Trust. The trial participants were administered an experimental medicine combined with Atezolizumab, an immunotherapy drug. Atezolizumab was administered to the participants intravenously. David continues to have the drug every three weeks. 

David Had Horrible Side Effects At First

Quoting David, the PTI report said that she was 15 months down the line after her initial cancer treatment and had almost forgotten about it, but then the cancer returned. 

David said when she was offered the trial, she did not know if it would work for her. However, she thought that at least she could do something to help others and use her body for the next generation. 

David added that at first, she had many horrible side effects including headaches and spiking temperatures, so she was in hospital over Christmas and quite poorly. "Then thankfully, I started to respond well to the treatment," she further said.

Cancer Treatment Before The NHS Trial 

Earlier, David, a mother of two grown-up children, worked as a clinical lead at a care home for the elderly. In November 2017, she discovered an aggressive triple negative form of breast cancer. 

After undergoing six months of chemotherapy and a mastectomy in April 2018, adavis went through 15 cycles of radiotherapy. This cleared her body of cancer. 

However, in October 2019, the cancer returned, and her scans showed multiple lesions throughout her body, implying she had a poor prognosis.

According to the report, the cancer had spread to the lungs, lymph nodes and chest bones. David was told that she had less than a year to live. Then, David was offered the opportunity to be part of research by participating in a Phase I clinical trial.

David Deemed Cancer-Free By June 2021

David said she celebrated her 50th birthday in February 2020 while still in the middle of treatment and not knowing what the future held. "Two and a half years ago I thought it was the end and now I feel like I've been reborn," she said.

David stated that there is a change in her life after returning to India to see family in April and she has decided to take early retirement and live her life in gratitude to God and medical science. She added that her family has been supportive of this decision, and that she will be celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary in September.

No measurable cancer cells in her body were seen in her scans. She was deemed cancer-free by June 2021. Though she continues to show no evidence of the disease, she will remain on treatment until December 2023.

"We are really pleased that Jasmin has such a good outcome. At The Christie, we are continually testing new drugs and therapies to see if they can benefit more people," Professor Fiona Thistlethwaite, medical oncologist and clinical director of Manchester CRF at The Christie was quoted as saying in the report.

In June, Tumours Disappeared From Every Patient In Drug Trial 

A similar wonder in the field of oncology occurred in the month of June. For the first time in the history of cancer, tumours had disappeared from every patient involved in a drug trial. As many as 18 rectal cancer patients participated in the trial, and each of them was given the same drug. 

Surprisingly, the cancer had vanished and every single patient, and was undetectable by physical examination, endoscopy or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. The study describing the results was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

According to a report published by The New York Times (NYT), Dr Luis A. Diaz Jr of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center said he knew of no other study in which a treatment completely obliterated a cancer in every patient.

He said he believes this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer. 

The study found that on average, one in five patients have some sort of adverse reaction to dostarlimab, the drug the patients took. Dostarlimab is also known as a checkpoint inhibitor. The medication, which was given every three weeks for six months, unmasks cancer cells, allowing the immune system to identify and destroy them, and costs about $11,000 per dose. 

Most adverse reactions are easily managed, the report said. However, as many as three to five per cent of patients who take checkpoint inhibitors have more severe complications. In some cases, these complications can result in muscle weakness and difficulty swallowing and chewing.