Lung Cancer Treatment Could Replace Chemotherapy? טיפול חדש של סרטן של הריאה יכלה להחליף כימותרפיה

Reported November 17, 2010

New Lung Cancer Treatment Could Replace Chemotherapy?

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- In a far less invasive treatment for lung cancer, patients can now inhale a novel dry powder to treat their symptoms.  It’s not as detrimental to patient’s health as radiation or surgery, and still shows an increase in survival rates.

Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death in men and women, is responsible for 1.3 million deaths worldwide annually, making it the second most common type of cancer in the United States. 

Raimar L’benberg, lead researcher of the study, along with his colleagues Warren Finlay and Wilson Roa of the University of Alberta developed an inhalable dry powder by means of a common chemotherapy drug encapsulated into nanoparticles. 

Results showed that the inhalable dry power was more efficient in the treatment of lung cancer than that of the IV injection or solution.  Ultimately, more than 80 percent of the mice survived for more than 90 days, and more than 70 percent survived for 140 days.  In due course, none of the mice treated with the IV injection or solution survived past 50 days.

"Current lung cancer treatments can be grueling and take a significant toll on the patient," which L’benberg was quoted as saying.  "Our results show that this treatment method may not only increase someone's survival rate but could also potentially be less toxic to the body."

It was also reported that the inhalable powder was more effectual than the IV injection in both reducing the amount as well as size of the tumors.  Large tumor masses were visible in the lungs of those animals that were not treated or  treated with the IV injection of solution.  Conclusively, animals treated with the inhalable dry powder displayed both fewer and much smaller tumors.

SOURCE: 2010 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)

Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress (PSWC) in association with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS)

Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans, La., Nov. 14 – 18.