Nobel-winning cancer therapy is already available in the UAE

Last week, two scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a way the body's immune cells could be used to attack cancer cells. The breakthrough has led to the development of an entirely new class of drugs and brought remissions to many patients who had run out of options.
With October being the breast cancer month, doctors in the UAE said that the drugs are available in the UAE too and patients are already being treated using immunotherapy. "Immunotherapy has opened the doors for patients for all cancer patients," said Dr Mohanad Diab, consultant medical oncologist at NMC Hospital and head of oncology of the NMC group. "Immunotherapy has been known to us for several years but the biggest development happened only recently," he said.
The Nobel was awarded on Monday to James P. Allison of the United States and Tasuku Honjo of Japan. Before Dr Allison's and Dr Honjo's discoveries, cancer treatment consisted of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal treatments.
A statement from the Nobel committee hailed their accomplishments as establishing "an entirely new principle for cancer therapy". The drugs based on their work belong to a class called checkpoint inhibitors.
"The side effects of immunotherapy are much less than those of chemotherapy or radiation. Previously we were telling old patients especially those over 70 that sorry we have nothing for you as they cannot tolerate chemotherapy side effects but now there is hope," said Dr Diab.
"For now, we are using it widely for cancers of the lung, bladder, liver, sarcomas and many other diagnoses. Prognosis has improved definitely when we use immunotherapy. It gives a big hope and trust for patients and these medications are better tolerated and have fewer side effects on patients. Above all, these medications are available in the UAE," added Dr Diab.
Dr Sadir Alrawi, director of oncology services at Al Zahra Hospital Dubai, said that due to the scientists' discovery, mortality and morbidity due to cancers has decreased. "There are good response and survival rates now including for the cancer of the breast," he said.
"Drugs for treating these cancers are now sophisticated and hope for patients is very high," he added. "We can say that in a few years that breast cancer will be a curable disease in 95 per cent of cases except in very advanced stages.
The winners of the Nobel prize are to share a sum of nine million Swedish kronor - about $1.01 million.
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com