Roche Drug reduces lung cancer by 26 percent

A trial on cancer drug by Roche Holding AG (ROG) has claimed to decrease the risk of lung cancer by 26 percent. It was conducted on regular smokers on a trial basis and gave a significant cue to a new therapy for a difficult to treat groups of smokers.

The experiment was conducted on 53 patients in an early stage of study of Roche’s MPDL3280A and within a time gap of 48 weeks, it had been seen tumors were significantly reduced. Jean-Charles Soria, of Gustave Roussy Institute in Paris said that the medicine was infused in every three weeks and worked best for those patients who the highest levels of a protein had named PD-L1.

The drug actually worked on the protein PD-L1, resisting the cancer agents to attack on immune system. Roche has already started the experimentation on MPDL3280A, finding the benefits from the patients. Soria told reported in Amsterdam that the medicine was really working and there was no doubt about that. 

 “This is the first targeted agent showing more activity in smoking patients than in never smokers.” He said.