What is combined immunobiological treatment?
In general, today modern oncology is based on two main therapeutic technologies:
- Immunotherapy – in this treatment, drugs are appointed to activate patient's immune system against cancer cells, and it is immune system that actually attacks cancer cells.
- Biological treatment – in this treatment, drugs are prescribed against specific mutation in tumor and attack cancer cell itself.
These treatments methods which began mostly applicate in melanoma, are now used in 14 additional FDA-approved cancer indications and are expected to completely change the face of oncology in the coming years.
What is efficiency level of these clearence technologies?
According to available today data, immunological treatment allows to achieve a level of efficiency of 30-40% when attacking cancer cells, as already mentioned, through immune system itself.
Although this is a high efficiency compared to traditional treatment methods such as chemotherapy, today the aim is to increase the efficiency level to 70% and even lead to a complete cure in patients with metastases. To achieve this aim, the approach of combining two drugs is currently being implemented, which enhance the effect of each other and make it possible to significantly increase the level of treatment effectiveness both for melanomas and for approximately 14 other types of cancer. It is a combination of two ready-made drugs, including two immunotherapeutic drugs or an immunotherapeutic drug with a biological drug.
What is a new treatment combining fecal transplantation?
In four major institutes of the world, one of which is an institute in Israel, an innovative treatment method combining an immunotherapeutic drug and fecal transplantation is used today. In this treatment, feces are taken from a patient whose cancer has disappeared after immunotherapy treatment and distributed into special capsules using a special technology. Feces contain a special composition of bacteria, which, when administered to another patient with the same type of cancer, makes it possible to further increase immunotherapy effectiveness level. Application of gut bacteria is an area in which research has expanded in recent years, with the realization that these bacteria can help and lead to significant breakthroughs in treatment of a wide range of cancers and other diseases.
In a research conducted at Ell Institute itself, approximately 30% of patients who did not respond to any immunotherapy treatment eventually responded to innovative treatment combining an immunotherapy drug and fecal transplant, as mentioned above, to the point of complete disappearance of all metastatic diseases.
