1.6 month increased average survival. Spin it and slice the numbers however they want to, thats still pretty grim.
It is grim, but the average does not tell the whole story. From what I understand, it extends the life of several patients for a long time, with 4x more patients surviving three years after diagnosis. The average is low because, just as with most cancer drugs, it only helps a percentage of the patients.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Scientists have developed a drug to treat mesothelioma, a notoriously hard-to-treat cancer linked to asbestos, in the biggest breakthrough in two decades.
Thousands of people are diagnosed with the disease globally every year, which tends to develop in the lungs and is mainly caused by exposure to asbestos at work.
In an international trial spanning five countries, led by Queen Mary University of London, a new drug that cuts off the tumour’s food supply quadrupled three-year survival rates.
The trial involved patients from the UK, US, Australia, Italy and Taiwan, and was led by Prof Peter Szlosarek at Queen Mary.
Among the patients included in the final analysis were 249 people with pleural mesothelioma – when the disease affects the lining of the lungs.
“This discovery is something I have been driving from its earliest stages in the lab, with a new treatment, ADI-PEG20, now improving patient lives affected by mesothelioma.”
The original article contains 672 words, the summary contains 151 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
or we could just get the landlords to spend a little bit of their money to remove the popcorn ceilings!
