Toronto firefighter back on the job after new drug slows ‘incurable brain cancer’
according to the Canadian Cancer Society. The type he has, gliomas, is the second-most common cancer among Canadians under 40 and the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in this age group.And IDH-mutant glioma usually arises in people in their 30s and 40s, when they are in the prime of their lives — working and raising families, explained Dr.
Mary Jane Lim-Fat, neurologist and neuro-oncologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.“There is no current cure for diffuse gliomas in adults,” Lim-Fat told Global News. “So our best treatments, which up until now have consisted of radiation and chemotherapy, only delay the time until which the tumour grows back.
It’s been very challenging to find better treatments for our patients.”But there is hope. A new oral medication called Voranigo has been shown to target brain tumours, and in Phase 3 clinical trials, to “significantly” slow their growth.
Stefanidis participated in these clinical trials at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, and he said the treatment has been effective for his cancer.And now it has officially been approved in Canada.On Tuesday, Health Canada announced the approval of Voranigo, the first targeted therapy for treating Grade 2 isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant glioma in adults and pediatric patients aged 12 and older, following surgery. It is Canada’s first oral targeted treatment for brain cancer.Voranigo was studied in a large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial with patients from around the world, including Canada, from January 2020 through February 2022.The results of the Phase 3 clinical trials were published in June 2023 in the New England Journal of Medicine, and show promising results, Lim-Fat said.“This new
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