Colon cancer patients to be offered drug trial

A drug with the potential to prolong life for people with terminal colon cancer will be offered to suitable patients of a Cork hospital as part of a worldwide trial.

Second phase trials of the Japanese drug TAS-102 have shown that heavily pre-treated patients can gain an average of three extra months of life. The Bon Secours Hospital expects to join a worldwide phase-three trial in the coming months. Consultant medical oncologist Dr Brian Bird said the drug would be offered to up to 10 patients with heavily pre-treated metastatic unresectable colon cancer, in other words, cancer which has spread beyond the colon and is inoperable.

“Patients with no other options available to them will have a two in three chance of getting the drug if they take part in the trial and a one in three chance of getting a placebo [dummy drug],” said Dr Bird.

He said the drug offered exciting possibilities at a time when just six drugs were licensed to treat metastatic colon cancer.

“We use these drugs in different combinations in patients but after a year or two, some people will develop chemo-resistant cells and their options run out. This new drug could offer three extra months of a good quality of life.”

Dr Bird is among a number of Irish and international experts who will take part in the annual Southern Symposium on Foregut Cancer and the All-Ireland Colorectal Conference in University College Cork over the next two days.

As part of this, a public forum will take place tomorrow evening in UCC’s Devere Hall from 6pm to 7pm where patients and their families will have the opportunity to quiz the experts about colorectal cancer and liver secondaries.

Criostóir O’Súilleabháin, consultant surgeon at Mercy University Hospital, said it was a “rare opportunity to speak to experts at the cutting edge in the treatment of liver secondaries from colorectal cancer”.

Mr O’Súilleabháin, who will chair the forum, said they were looking forward to sharing their knowledge with patients.