A new drug improves the life expectancy of patients with aggressive eye cancer

A clinical trial with Catalan participation has developed the first drug that increases the total life expectancy of patients with metastatic uveal melanoma, a very aggressive intraocular cancer that in 50% of cases causes death in less than a year.

A clinical trial with Catalan participation has developed the first drug to increase the total life expectancy of patients with metastatic uveal melanoma, a very aggressive intraocular cancer that in 50% of cases causes death in less than a year.

The head of the Cancer Immunotherapy research group at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and the Cancer Network Biomedical Research Center (Ciberonc), Josep Maria Piulats, has participated in the study , published in "The New England Journal of Medicine".

Uveal melanoma is the most common intraocular cancer, which, like cutaneous melanomas, is due to the uncontrolled proliferation of melanocytes, the cells that give color to the skin.

However, unlike the others, uveal melanoma, which represents between 3 and 5% of melanomas, has molecular and cellular characteristics that make it especially aggressive, causing half of patients to develop metastasis.

This study, corresponding to a phase 3 clinical trial in which the efficacy and safety of the new drug called Tebentafusp has been evaluated, demonstrates that the proposed treatment manages to slow down the progression of the disease., since the percentage of patients who survive more than a year goes from 58% with standard treatments to 73% with the new medication.

"After completing this study and the good results increasing the overall survival of the almost 400 patients included in the trial, Tebentafusp is already being given to patients with metastatic uveal melanomas to replace the usual chemotherapy," explained Piulats.

Tebentafusp works by guiding the immune system to the tumor: it recognizes the tumor cells and activates the immune system cells so that they "see" the tumor and attack it.

"The technology developed to generate Tebentafusp allows the immune system to specifically attack the tumor without needing to recognize it. That is, it is not necessary for the cells of the immune system to have specific receptors that recognize tumor cells, the same drug acts as a mediator for that they attack him," Piulats explained.

As it is a drug that specifically recognizes tumor cells, it does not affect unwanted tissues and has fewer side effects than standard chemotherapy treatments.

However, as Piulats has indicated, "the administration of this drug requires experience to identify the possible derived toxicities and act accordingly to avoid them."