Doctors reported significant progress in cancer treatment and prevention during 2024, with breakthrough therapies and improved clinical trial designs marking key developments in oncology research.
“2024 represents another important page in the memoirs of the battle against cancer,” said oncologist Asimina Koulouridi, highlighting four main areas of advancement: novel drug treatments, modernised clinical trials, artificial intelligence applications, and enhanced understanding of human and cancer biology.
The immunotherapy drug Dostarlimab “continued to confirm its effectiveness in locally advanced rectal cancer, with a 100 percent success rate and avoidance of surgery and any other treatment for specific patient subtypes (patients with microsatellite instability d-MMR/MSI-h),” Koulouridi said.
A new drug, Ponsegromab, “showed extremely significant results in weight and muscle strength recovery” for cancer cachexia patients. Targeted treatments for KRAS mutations in colorectal cancer “are now becoming daily practice, giving us another weapon in our arsenal.”
“To continue acquiring new effective weapons, we must modernise the design of clinical trials on which their discovery is based,” Koulouridi explained. “Last year, newer study designs, with simplified procedures, offered faster patient enrollment and quicker results.”
Prevention efforts proved particularly effective, with records showing 4.75 million cancer deaths were prevented between 1975-2020 through screening programmes. “The SEER programme has been upgraded for faster recording with more reliable prognostic results, closer to real-world data,” she noted.
Scientists also found that the circadian rhythm, “a ’24-hour internal clock’ that controls changes in body functions,” could be used “as an indicator to administer treatments like immunotherapy at a time within the twenty-four hours when maximum effectiveness can be achieved.”
“Countries like Cyprus must seek solutions for cancer patients to have immediate access to newer treatments through clinical trials, ideally in their own country, on a broad scale,” Koulouridi concluded.
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