New Drugs Make Big Difference in Treating Lung, Prostate, Colon Cancers

新药在治疗肺癌、前列腺癌和结肠癌方面结果大不同

Doctors are reporting success with newer drugs that control some kinds of cancer better than current medicines. They say these drugs reduce the risk that the cancer will come back and make treatment simpler and easier for patients.

医生们报告说，新药物在控制某些癌症方面比目前的药物更有效。他们说，这些药物降低了癌症复发的风险，使患者的治疗变得更简单更容易。

One such drug, taken as a daily pill, called Tagrisso, comes from drug manufacturer AstraZeneca. The British-based company says Tagrisso targets a mutation in the patient’s genes, unlike chemotherapy drugs, which can kill both cancerous and healthy cells.

其中一种叫做泰瑞沙Tagrisso的药物是由制药商阿斯利康公司生产的，作为每日服用的药片。这家总部位于英国的公司表示，与化疗药物可以杀死癌细胞和健康细胞不同，Tagrisso针对的是患者基因的突变。

Doctors say the new drug’s side effects can be controlled long enough that it can be used for several years to help prevent the cancer from returning.

医生说，这种新药的副作用可以长期控制，可以使用几年来防止癌症复发。

Yet Tagrisso and other newer drugs can cost $150,000 or more a year. How much patients end up paying depends on their healthcare insurance, earnings, and other considerations.

然而，Tagrisso和其他新药一年的成本可能高达15万美元或更多。病人最终要付多少钱取决于他们的医疗保险、收入和其他考虑因素。

Lung cancer

肺癌

Lung cancer kills more than 1.7 million people worldwide each year. Roy Herbst is a doctor with the Yale Cancer Center in the United States. He led a study of Tagrisso in 682 patients with the most common form of the disease. All had operable tumors with a mutation in a gene called EGFR. This unusual genetic structure is found in 10 percent to 35 percent of such cases, mainly among Asians and non-smokers.

全世界每年有170多万人死于肺癌。罗伊·赫布斯特是美国耶鲁大学癌症中心的一名医生。他领导了一项针对682名塔里索综合症患者的研究。这些患者都患有可手术的肿瘤，并伴有一种名为EGFR的基因突变。这种不寻常的基因结构在10%到35%的此类病例中发现，主要是在亚洲人和非吸烟者中。

About half of the patients were given chemotherapy after their tumor operation. The drug treatment uses powerful chemicals to kill the cancer cells. The patients then took Tagrisso or harmless pills called placebos.

大约一半的病人在肿瘤手术后接受了化疗。药物治疗使用强力化学物质杀死癌细胞。然后，患者服用泰瑞沙(Tagrisso)或称为安慰剂的无害药丸。

Independent observers stopped the study in April when the effectiveness of Tagrisso seemed clear.

今年4月，当Tagrisso的效果似乎很明显时，独立观察员停止了这项研究。

After two years on average, 89 percent of patients taking the drug were alive without cancer returning, compared to 53 percent of those on the placebo. Severe side effects were a little more common on Tagrisso. They included patients feeling tired and reddish skin in the mouth or around the nails.

平均两年后，服用该药的患者中有89%活了下来，没有癌症复发，而服用安慰剂的患者中只有53%存活率。严重的副作用在Tagrisso上比较常见，包括感到疲倦、口腔或指甲周围皮肤发红。

U.S. health officials have approved Tagrisso for use in treating advanced lung cancer, and “the excitement now is moving this earlier” before the disease has widely spread, noted Herbst.

赫布斯特指出，美国卫生官员已经批准Tagrisso用于治疗晚期肺癌，在疾病广泛传播之前，“现在的兴奋情绪正在提前转移”。

The drug costs about $15,000 a month.

该药每月的费用约为1.5万美元。

Prostate cancer

前列腺癌

Men with advanced prostate cancer often are treated with medicines to block male hormones that can help the cancer grow. The drugs are injected as shots in the arm every few months but take days or weeks to start working. They can also cause bone pain and other problems.

患有晚期前列腺癌的男性通常会接受药物治疗，以抑制有助于肿瘤生长的雄性激素。这些药物每隔几个月被注射到手臂上，但需要几天或几周才能开始起作用。它们还会引起骨痛和其他问题。

An experimental drug called relugolix is a different kind of hormone blocker and the first meant for use as a daily pill. The drug is a product of Myovant Sciences. Researchers tested it against shots of the drug leuprolide, an injectable man-made hormone, every three months in 930 men. They were treated for nearly a year.

一种叫做relugolix的试验性药物是一种不同种类的激素阻滞剂，它最初是作为每日药片使用的。该药物是Myovant科学的产品。研究人员每三个月对930名男性进行一次试验，将其与注射用的人造激素亮丙瑞林(leuprolide)进行对比。他们接受了将近一年的治疗。

The company reports that about 97 percent on the experimental drug kept hormones blocked throughout that time, compared to 89 percent on leuprolide. Four days after the start of treatment, 56% of men on relugolix and none on leuprolide had hormones blocked.

该公司报告称，在这段时间里，实验药物中约有97%的激素被阻断，而亮丙瑞林的这一比例为89%。治疗开始4天后，接受瑞瑞高利治疗的男性中有56%出现激素堵塞，而接受亮丙瑞林治疗的男性中没有出现激素堵塞。

Three percent of the men taking relugolix experienced a serious heart problem, such as a heart attack or stroke. That compares to six percent of the men on leuprolide. The difference was even greater among men who suffered heart problems earlier.

服用relugolix的男性中有3%经历了严重的心脏问题，如心脏病发作或中风。相比之下，服用利福瑞林的男性只有6%出现了这些问题。在心脏病前期的人群中，这种差异更大。

Myovant is seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the drug.

Myovant正在寻求美国食品和药物管理局对该药物的批准。

Colon cancer

结肠癌

Merck & Company manufactures Keytruda, an experimental drug, that helps the body’s natural defense system find and fight cancer. Keytruda proved better than traditional chemotherapy treatments for people with advanced colon cancer and tumors with gene defects that result in a high number of mutations.

默克公司生产一种实验性药物Keytruda，它能帮助人体的自然防御系统发现并对抗癌症。证据表明，对于晚期结肠癌和导致大量突变的基因缺陷肿瘤患者，Keytruda比传统化疗效果更好。

The study involved 307 patients in France. Those given Keytruda went more than 16 months on average before their cancer worsened. That compares with 8 months for those taking chemotherapy treatments. After a year, 55 percent on Keytruda were alive without worsening cancer compared to 37 percent on chemotherapy. After two years, the rate was 48 percent versus nearly 19 percent.

这项研究涉及法国的307名患者。服用Keytruda的患者在癌症恶化前平均存活了16个月以上。相比之下，接受化疗的患者则只能存活8个月。一年后，使用Keytruda的患者中有55%没有恶化癌症，而使用化疗的患者只有37%没有恶化。两年后，这一比例变成了近48%比19%。

About 22% of people getting Keytruda had severe side effects compared to 66% on chemotherapy.

与接受化疗的66%相比，服用Keytruda的患者大约有22%出现严重的副作用。

The Associated Press adds that Keytruda costs about $12,500 a month.

美联社补充说，Keytruda的每月费用约为1.25万美元。

I’m Jonathan Evans.