Dostarlimab – Is it Really Curing Cancer? 

Scientists and researchers continuously work to develop a new form of medication for cancer patients.

One such medicine, Dostarlimab, is being taken as the cure for cancer. You might have heard or read about it in the news.

But does it really cure cancer?

We will address this question in this brief piece of information. 

Topics Covered

1. Are all Cancers Same?
2. How Doctors make decisions about cancer treatment?

Before knowing whether can dostarlimab cure cancer or not, there are a few things we need to make clear.

Are all Cancers the Same?

Cancer is a general term indicating uncontrolled cell growth in the body. But remember, just as every organ in the body is unique, each cancer is different and unique.

For e.g.,
Stomach cancer is different from breast cancer, and breast cancer is different from brain cancer. That’s why the treatments for these forms of cancers too are different. 

So it’s not logical that a single medication or treatment can cure all forms of cancers. Now coming to Dostarlimab, the patients involved in the study of this medication were rectal cancer patients.

The medicine was used on stage 2 and stage 3 rectal cancer patients, which delivered good results.

So we can say that the results that are making rounds in the news forums are for rectal cancer patients only.

How Do We Make Decisions about Cancer Treatment?

Whenever we encounter any new form of procedure, surgery, or medication, we thoroughly analyze them.

Major medical institutions perform research on these things before reaching any conclusion.

When a majority of these researchers find that a particular treatment option is successful for any particular stage and form of cancer,  only then that treatment option is included in treatment guidelines endorsed by well-known national and international cancer bodies.

Once these institutions approve the treatment, only such treatments are available for patients.

Coming to Dostarlimab, there has been just a single study with 12 rectal cancer patients in the 6 months trial. But this data is not sufficient to reach any conclusion.

For cancer treatments, we have to track the patient’s health condition post-treatment for longer periods.

We have to look out for the treatment’s potential side effects and other outcomes before it becomes mainstream.

Cost

There are a lot of immunotherapy options available in India today. But most of these options are very expensive.

In fact, just 3% of the Indian Population can afford immunotherapy. So even if the treatment is efficient, if it is not affordable, it won’t benefit a larger section of the Population.

As per New York Times report, a single dose of Dostarlimab costs around INR 8 lakh!

During the treatment period of 6 months, a patient must be given one dose every 3rd week.

So it’s obvious that the cost of treatment using Dostarlimab is sky-high. This means Dostarlimab is not suitable for most of the Indian Population as of now.

Takeaway

There is no doubt that Dostarlimab has delivered good results in stage 2 and stage 3 rectal cancer patients.

But the follow-ups are quite short, the cost is high, and we still have to wait for more detailed studies on a larger number of patients.

We will also have to consider the long-term side effects on the patients. Only then can Dostarlimab be adopted as a standard treatment.

But the initial results of DostarLimab indicate that immunotherapy can be very helpful in cancer patients.

In the future, it might evolve and become a great alternative to cancer treatment. We hope this information has cleared all your doubts related to the Dostarlimab.

In case you need any more information on the topic, feel free to reach out to us. We will be happy to assist