Now, A Pill That Promises to Melt Away Leukaemia

                A new drug that ‘melts’ away cancer has been given fast track approval in the US. Developed in Australia, Venetoclax was developed to specifically target chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The drug showed a positive result in 80% of clinical trials, with one in five patients finishing the programme completely cancer-free. Venetoclax is administered orally every day via a pill. In the original trial, 116 participants increased their dosage from 20mg to 400mg over a five week period. It truly does lead to the disease melting away in 20% of people.

                Cells, when they are born, are destined to die, and cancer cells – particularly leukemia cells – delay that death by using a protein called BCL2 that stops the normal time of death. Venetoclax works by specifically blocking the action of that BCL2 and allows the cells to die in the way that they were destined to. It causes no side-effects. Despite the majority of trial patients experiencing some benefit from Venetoclax, others did have a negative result. The drug marks an advance in immunotherapy, a new area of research that assesses how the body’s own immune system can defeat cancer. As yet, it has been used most effectively in the treatment of melanoma. While Venetoclax has received approval from the European Union and the United States, the drug has not yet been made available in Australia.