Oral administration of the leukemia drug decitabine is no less effective than intravenous administration. This has been shown by a study published in the journal. Lancet Hematology.
The oral medication decitabine-sedazuridine was approved for use in the United States in 2020 to treat chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, a type of blood cancer. However, it was not known whether it was equivalent to the intravenous form of the drug in terms of effectiveness.
138 patients over the age of 18 participated in the new study. They took decitabine-sedazuridine orally for five days or decitabine intravenously for an hour at intervals of several weeks. There were no significant differences in blood drug concentrations or patient survival.
Decitabine restores the activity of genes that normally suppress the formation of cancer cells. This leads to the self-destruction of the tumor. The study could give hours or even days of life back to patients who would otherwise have to be treated with the same drug in a hospital setting.
Previous scientists in the name Prostate cancer, which does not always need to be treated.