Breakthrough Dutch cancer treatment held back by drug firms: FD

Dutch oncologists have developed pioneering immunotherapy treatments that cure more cancer patients with fewer drugs, but the methods remain out of reach for most patients because of opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Friday.

Doctors at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (AvL) hospital in Amsterdam reversed the standard treatment order by giving immunotherapy before surgery rather than after.

Their studies showed that this approach eliminated tumors in nearly all patients with advanced bowel cancer, with many still cancer-free three years later. Similar trials for skin cancer also showed far higher cure rates with shorter courses of drugs.

“Good results are welcome, but the best thing you can achieve is to change standard care and help as many people as possible,” oncologist Myriam Chalabi told the FD. Her team's method requires only four weeks of immunotherapy, compared with up to a year under current protocols, reducing side effects and costs for patients.

But making the treatment widely available requires regulatory approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Only the drugmaker that holds the license can submit an application, and in this case that is US firm Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS).

The company has so far refused to file, a stance doctors attribute to financial concerns because shorter treatments mean selling fewer medicines, the FD said.

Oncologist Christian Blank faced similar resistance with his melanoma study, which showed that half of patients could skip further treatment after surgery.

His results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at a major oncology conference in Chicago. BMS initially backed his research but then pulled back, he said.

After years of pressure, BMS recently told the FD it is now “preparing” an application for authorization, though it gave no timeline. In the meantime, Dutch doctors secured approval through the national health institute to offer the treatment nationally.

“We have treatments that are better and also cheaper, yet we cannot get them to our patients if the industry does not cooperate,” said AvL oncologist Gabe Sonke. The hospital is exploring producing its own versions of the drugs once patents expire to bypass what it calls market failure in bringing effective therapies to patients.