Two tablets a day could soon save some blood cancer patients from grueling periods of chemotherapy.
The drug, called ruxolitinib, can keep a type of blood cancer called polycythemia vera in remission for up to three years longer than traditional methods, according to British research.
About one-third of patients with polycythemia vera experience serious side effects of chemotherapy, such as leg and mouth ulcers, nausea and unbearable fatigue.
But ruxolitinib causes fewer side effects and reduces the risk of cancer-related complications — such as headaches, night sweats and difficulty concentrating — by 50 percent compared to chemotherapy.
It is now thought that NHS watchdogs will give the green light after impressive trial results.
SUFFERER: DJ David Hamilton – photographed in a Radio 1 studio in 1973 – revealed last year that he has the rare polycythemia vera blood cancer
‘So far there really hasn’t been much for these patients,’ says Professor Claire Harrison, a blood cancer specialist at Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust in London and co-author of the most recent study.
“Now we present to health officials the most positive data on ruxolitinib to date. We think it can be approved in the near future.”
About 4,000 people in the UK are living with polycythemia vera, when red blood cells are made too quickly by the bone marrow. Some patients also produce too many white blood cells and platelets, which are responsible for blood clotting after injuries. It means an increased risk of a host of complications, including bone marrow damage — which can cause other blood cancers such as leukemia — and blood clots that can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
It is incurable and also causes severe migraines and swollen, red, itchy skin.
One patient is veteran BBC radio DJ David Hamilton, 84, who revealed his polycythemia vera diagnosis last year.
Initially, most patients are offered venesection, a treatment that regularly removes half a liter of blood to reduce the number of red blood cells in the body. Aspirin is also given to reduce the risk of blood clots. Most patients also need chemotherapy to destroy the excess cells, but this can further increase the risk of life-threatening blood clots and leave many incapacitated.
In a third of patients, chemotherapy also fails to stop the development of cancer.
The hope is that ruxolitinib will vastly improve survival rates after a study coordinated by the University of Birmingham concluded that the drug can dramatically improve quality of life and reduce the risk of blood clots by 50 percent.
Ruxolitinib works by ‘pausing’ a gene called JAK2, which helps regulate the number of red and white blood cells and platelets produced in the bone marrow.
In a study of 180 polycythemia vera patients in 39 UK hospitals, researchers compared the results in two groups of patients – half took ruxolitinib and other standard treatments.
It turned out that ruxolitinib patients had half as many excess blood cells as others and were four times less likely to end up in the hospital because of new cancers or blood clots.
One patient benefiting from this is 64-year-old Mark Hill from London, who was diagnosed with polycythemia vera in 2004.
The retired teacher was first treated with bloodletting and aspirin every three months. But within five years, the condition had “spun out of control.”
According to British research, ruxolitinib can keep a type of blood cancer called polycythemia vera in remission for up to three years longer than traditional methods
“Every time I went in they told me to come back in six weeks and get more blood drawn because it was getting dangerous,” says Mark.
Doctors gave him the chemotherapy drug hydroxycarbamide, which he took as a daily tablet for a year.
“The chemo made me feel like I was falling apart,” says Mark. “My hair was falling out, my head was foggy and I was so tired that I struggled to work.”
In 2012, Mark participated in a medical trial for ruxolitinib.
“I immediately felt better,” he says. “My blood cells got into the normal range, my hair came back, and I felt I could function again.
When the trial ended in 2017, the pharmaceutical company compassionately allowed Mark access to the pills — and he’s still using them.
“Now I lead an active and healthy life,” he says. “I thought I would be dead within ten years of my diagnosis. Now, almost 20 years later, I’m still here and fighting fit.’