New cancer trial could be game changer for rectal cancer treatment

A cancer trial has achieved results reportedly never seen before. The new treatment could be a potential game-changer in battling rectal cancer.

In the trial conducted at Manhattan’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, patients took the experimental cancer drug called Dostarlimab. The results showed after six months of treatments, the cancer vanished in every single patient, without any significant side effects. Two years later, each patient is still cancer free.

"This is an example of how 30 years ago, there was laboratory research done, and we’re benefitting from it now. It speaks to the fact that we need more research in fundamental basic science," said Dr. Luis Diaz, an oncologist with Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Doctors want to repeat the results with a larger group, saying it’s too early to say the cancer is permanently gone.