Study shows new drug delivery system effective against rare eye cancer

A team of US researchers has found a new drug delivery system that showed more efficacy and improved the treatment of a rare eye cancer that spreads to liverThe multiinstitutional study led by Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida US found that percutaneous hepatic perfusion using a melphalan hepatic delivery system may help patients with metastatic uveal melanoma mUM a traditionally hardtotreat cancer and with usually poor outcomesMelphalanHepatic Delivery System is a drug or medical device combination used for liverdirected treatment of unresectable mUM patientsThis study assessed the efficacy and safety of the melphalan hepatic delivery system versus the best alternative careThe results published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology showed that the treatment with the melphalan hepatic delivery system can help control the cancer in the liverldquoThis new treatment gives hope to patients with this historically toughtotreat cancerrdquo said lead author Jonathan Zager surgical oncologist in the Cutaneous Oncology Department at MoffittldquoThe treatment provides an option that does not interfere with their quality of life and gives patients a chance at longer survivalrdquo Zager addedIn the clinical trials one group of patients received the melphalan hepatic delivery system treatment while the other group received standardofcare treatmentCompared to patients receiving alternative care those treated with the melphalan hepatic delivery system experienced significantly improved outcomesThe study reported that the median progressionfree survival for these patients was 91 months compared with 33 months for those on standard treatmentsThe disease control rate also substantially increased from 469 per cent to 800 per centPatients treated with the melphalan hepatic delivery system lived a median of 185 months compared with 145 months for those receiving other forms of careAlthough there were some side effects mostly related to blood cell counts these were treated with standard care as an outpatient and mostly resolved with observation aloneThe melphalan hepatic delivery system treatment was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in August 2023Unlike regular chemotherapy this treatment delivers a high dose of the drug directly into the liver which is isolated with a series of catheters and balloons via percutaneous insertionsThe chemotherapy is filtered out before it gets introduced to the rest of the body This targeted approach helps reduce harmful side effects in the rest of the bodyHowever more research is needed to test the benefits of the melphalan hepatic delivery systematOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params