A first for one of the toughest cancers: a two-in-one antibody helps people with bile-duct cancer live longer

Biliary tract cancer — cancer of the bile ducts and gallbladder — is usually found late, after it has spread, when surgery is no longer possible and most people live less than a year. In a large trial in China, 682 people with this cancer were given either the usual treatment, an immunotherapy drug called durvalumab plus chemotherapy, or the same chemotherapy with a new drug, ivonescimab. Ivonescimab does two jobs at once: it switches the immune system back on against the tumour, and it cuts off the blood supply tumours grow for themselves. People on the new drug typically lived 14.9 months, compared with 12.1 months on the standard treatment — a 25% lower risk of death — and their tumours shrank in more than half of cases (53.8%, against 32.5% on the standard). Side effects were similar in both groups, with no new safety problems. It is the first time any treatment has beaten the current immunotherapy standard on survival in a large trial for this cancer, and a follow-up study to support approval in the USA is due to start later this year.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation