Enlarge By Stephen Brashear for USA TODAY Coach Andy Hill dribbles the ball between Alexandra Johnson, 13, right, and Samantha Wrast, 13, in Redmond, Wash. Hill, a non-smoker, is feeling better on the lung cancer drug crizotinib. FORUM: LIVING WITH CANCER FORUM: LIVING WITH CANCER Patients, survivors, loved ones touched by any type of cancer invited to share questions, advice, experiences HEALTH REPORTER TWEETS HEALTH REPORTER TWEETS An experimental drug is causing dramatic recoveries in a small number of people with lung cancer, the world's leading cancer killer, scientists reported Saturday. The pill, crizotinib, shrank tumors in 64% of patients with advanced lung cancer and kept 90% of cancers in check, according to a preliminary study of 76 patients presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. ASCO: Long-term Avastin use keeps ovarian cancer in check Doctors haven't studied the drug long enough to know whether it also helps patients live longer. But the new pill appears far more effective than conventional chemotherapy, which typically helps only 10% of patients with such advanced cancer, says study author Yung-Jue Bang of Seoul National University in South Korea. Patients in the study already had endured up to seven previous therapies and might have had only three to four months to live, says Mace Rothenberg of Pfizer, which funded the study. It's rare for cancer drugs to show this much promise in the earliest phase of human testing. These results were so strong, however, that doctors were able to move quickly to a large, definitive trial, Bang says. "It's an absolutely huge deal," says Mark Kris, a researcher at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center who has treated patients with the drug. "This is where we want cancer therapy to go." Crizotinib is part of new arsenal of "targeted" cancer therapies, developed over the past decade, which keep tumors in check by blocking the production of proteins that make cancers grow. They work very differently from conventional chemo, which act broadly to kill all fast-growing cells — killing both malignant cells and healthy ones. Crizotinib blocks a genetic abnormality found most often in non-smokers, caused when two normal genes fuse together to form a new, cancer-causing gene, called EML4-ALK. About 7,500 of the 219,440 Americans diagnosed with lung cancer each year have this cancer gene. Because the cancer gene isn't found in healthy cells, crizotinib causes fewer serious side effects than chemo, which can lower patients' blood counts and lead to life-threatening infections. Doctors saw no severe or life-threatening symptoms in this study, although one patient stopped taking the drug after blood tests indicated liver damage, Bang says. "We're seeing an evolution in treatment," says researcher Brian Druker, who invented the landmark drug Gleevec, which was approved in 2001 and is seen as the model for new cancer treatments. "The more of these drugs we get, the closer we get to the reality of personalized cancer therapies." Andy Hill of Redmond, Wash., says he owes his health to the drug, which he has been taking since October. "I was in bad shape," says Hill, 47, a non-smoker who was diagnosed with lung cancer in March 2009. "It was very hard to walk up the stairs without losing my breath. I lost my voice. ... I started taking the pill and within a week, all my symptoms had gone away. Within two weeks, my voice was back. Within three weeks, I was jogging again." For Hill, crizotinib's only side effects are temporary visual disturbances: strobe-light effects in his peripheral vision when he goes from a dark room to a lighted one. Chemo and radiation were much harsher, he says, burning his esophagus so that he was unable to eat and had to be fed intravenously. Hill lost his hair and 25 pounds. Hill says he has since regained that weight and has returned to coaching his 14-year-old daughter's soccer team. "I've kind of gotten a second chance," Hill says. Crizotinib hasn't yet been approved and is available only through clinical trials. Patients can find out whether they're eligible for the studies by asking their doctors to test their tumor samples or by calling Pfizer at (877) 369-9753. Targeted drugs like this are raising critical questions about paying for cancer. On the one hand, new therapies can cost up to $10,000 a month. On the other hand, Rothenberg says that targeted therapies and advanced genetic testing can help patients and insurance plans save money, by providing drugs only to patients in whom they are likely to work. Researchers didn't provide long-term results. But if crizotinib is anything like other targeted therapies, it may work best on patients with early disease, giving those with advanced cancers only a 6 to 12 month reprieve, says Druker, director of the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute in Portland. Unfortunately, few lung cancers are detected in early stages. More often, the disease is found after tumors have multiplied or spread, Druker says. Druker notes that Gleevec only kept tumors in check for about six months for patients with advanced leukemia. Another new lung cancer drug, Tarceva, helps advanced cancer patients for about year. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. 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