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Doctors in Armenia will test a new method for treating lung cancer using a combination of Balstilimab and Botensilimab immunotherapy.
Experts are now conducting the relevant research.
Samvel Bardakhchyan, the Scientific Director of the Immune Oncology Research Institute and Lead of the Adult Oncology team at the Yeolyan Hematology and Oncology Center told Armenpress that immunotherapy is a newly developing area around the world.
“Chemotherapy is usually used for treating cancer, it is a drug that immediately affects the cancerous cells and destroys them. Unlike chemotherapy, this new method of treatment, immunotherapy, doesn’t affect the cancerous cell immediately, but it stimulates the patient’s immune system and helps the body to detect and fight against the cancer on its own,” Bardakhchyan said.
Immunotherapy has been developing around the world since the last decade, and experts have been searching for new methods to increase its efficiency.
“These drugs already have numerous applications for treating other cancerous diseases. They showed highly promising results and high effectiveness in several clinical trials, especially during treatment of colon cancer. And based on that data our hospital also launched the studies for treatment of lung cancer,” the oncologist said.
The studies have been taking place since June 2024 and involve 45 patients with stage 4 lung cancer who haven’t received any treatment in the past.
Although the current studies focus on lung cancer, doctors plan to use the drugs in clinical trials of treating other cancerous diseases, sometimes combining with chemotherapy treatment.
The research, authorized by the healthcare ministry, is conducted jointly by the Immune Oncology Research Institute and the Yeolyan Hematology and Oncology Center.