Kidney cancer meets its match By Joseph Masilamany

PETALING JAY (Dec 7, 2010): It is silent, sinister and sneaky. It creeps up into your kidney and remains there – only revealing itself with a gush of hematuria (blood in the urine) at an advanced stage in most cases. Mohd Ibrahim ... a step closer to more potent treatment for RCC The patient may think it is a case of bladder stones, but diagnosis may present a menacing malignancy called renal cell carcinoma (RCC) or kidney cell cancer. For oncologists, it is usually a tough battle treating RCC as it strikes insidiously. The treatment option at stage four is usually the removal of the affected kidney and for cases detected at earlier stages, there are very few drugs that can effectively contain the spread of the disease. On Saturday, the local fraternity of oncologists had a reason to applaud when temsirolimus – an intravenous drug – was launched by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Temsirolimus offers "targeted treatment" for advanced cases of RCC and improves the quality of life for patients. The launch of temsirolimus is "welcome news" for RCC patients, as they are usually "overlooked" in the battle against kidney cancer due to its poor prognosis. "Clinical studies have shown that temsirolimus is able to obtain good results and Pfizer is pleased to offer this hope and extended life to RCC patients through this treatment," said Dr Mohd Nawi Wahid, product physician/medical adviser of the oncology and specialty care business unit of Pfizer Malaysia. Also present at the launch were consultant clinical oncologist and Wijaya International Medical Centre director Datuk Dr Mohd Ibrahim A. Wahid and consultant medical oncologist Dr Christina Ng. Mohd Ibrahim said 400 cases of RCC are diagnosed every year in the country. He said it is the most treatment-resistant cancer registering a five-year survival rate of only 23%. "The incidence of kidney and other urinary organ cancer is highest among ethnic Chinese in the country with 375 per 100,000 followed by Malays (220) and Indians (52)," Mohd Ibrahim said. There were very limited options available until three years ago for treating RCC, and the usual treatment is surgery aimed at removing the cancerous organ. Even after surgery about 30% of the patients suffer a relapse and the need for further management is inevitable with poor patient outcome. Mohd Ibrahim described temsirolimus as a breakthrough drug as it extends patient life. He perceives temsirolimus as a springboard for further advancement of research in "targeted treatment therapies" that are focused on inhibiting the progression of rogue cells that cause cancer and stopping them at their molecular pathway. --theSun