text_1: First-ever nivolumab study to treat aggressive anal cancer appears promising
text_2: As the nation’s largest cancer center, MD Anderson made a splash in 2012 with its ambitious announcement of a multi-billion dollar Moon Shots Program, which it called an unprecedented effort to rapidly convert scientific discoveries into life-saving advances. This news release, about a phase II clinical trial of the immunotherapy drug nivolumab (marketed as Opdivo) for one type of anal cancer, is decidedly more down to earth. The news release refrains from hype but still falls short of the mark when it comes to describing costs, potential harms, and comparisons with existing treatments. While calling results “encouraging,” the news release would be more helpful if it provided a meaningful assessment of whether this therapy might advance the Moon Shot’s directive of saving lives. Anal cancer is relatively rare. The American Cancer Society projects 8,080 new cases and 1,080 deaths in 2016. The number of new anal cancer cases has been rising. It is found mainly in older adults, with an average age in the early 60s. The risk of being diagnosed with anal cancer during one’s lifetime is about 1 in 500, with women at slightly higher risk. Squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA) is the most common form of anal cancer and is linked to infection by the human papilloma virus (HPV), the same virus that causes cervical cancer. The chemotherapy and radiation protocols that have been used to treat anal cancer have remained little changed since the 1970s, and there is no FDA-approved chemotherapy drug specific to anal cancer, according to the HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation. In recent years, a new class of drugs called immunotherapy drugs that unleash the body’s own immune system to attack cancer have offered a potential alternative to traditional treatments for several types of cancer.