Hyperprogressive Disease, is not as rare as first thought when using immunotherapy drugs. Several research studies are now making the issue clearer.
A 2016 French study (1) originally showed hyperprogression (where the drug causes an increased rate of cancer growth) in 12 out of 131 patients on a PD -1 inhibitor. However this 9% figure could be really 18% as it turned out that a number of people exhibiting hyperprogression were removed from the trial! And the problem seems worse as you get older – 19% in the over 65s against just 5% in the under 65s.
Now a new study(2) on patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has shown a figure of 16% on a worldwide sample of 242 patients taking a PD-1.
Chris Woollams, former Oxford University Biochemist and Founder of CANCERactive said, "If 16-19% is a correct figure, it means roughly the same number of people get cancer progression from their immunotherapy drug, as gain benefit."
Ref
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Campies S, Dercle L, Ammari S, et al. Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is a new pattern of progression in cancer patients treated by anti-PD-1/PD-L1.Clin Cancer Res. 2016;23(8):1920-1928. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-16-1741.
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Ferrara R, Caramella C, Texier M, et al. Hyperprogressive disease (HPD) is frequent in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients (pts) treated with anti PD1/PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies (IO). Presented at: 2017 ESMO Congress; September 8-12, 2017; Madrid, Spain. Abstract 1306PD