Experimental Pill Extending Life of Cancer Patients

Developed by Roche and Daiichi Sankyo, a new experimental pill has performed "better than we expected" in clinical trials, according to Dr. Paul Chapman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The study included 675 previously untreated patients with inoperable late stage melanoma with B-RAF mutation. Patients taking the drug, vemurafenib, showed

• a 63% reduction in risk of death compared to patients tested with chemotherpy
• a 74% reduction in risk of cancer progression.

And ~50% of patients showed tumour shrinkage, compared to 5% in the chemotherapy treatment regime.

More information.