Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producer: Phil Goyen
It's our blessing — and our curse. We love the Australian sun, but every year 1500 people die from skin cancer.
Now, an incredible breakthrough. A tiny capsule that can stop even advanced Melanoma in its tracks.
It's called PLX 4032 — and the results are so swift and dramatic that it's got even the usually conservative medical community excited. Even better, this drug could mark the beginning of a cure for other forms of cancer. Already, it's giving some patients back their lives and, for people like 24-year-old Brendan Robbins, offering hope — just in time.
Story contacts:
The melanoma treatment featured in this week's story at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute is being co-developed by Hoffmann-La Roche and Plexxikon Inc. It is currently undergoing phase 2 clinical trials.
For more information you can go to the Roche Global trials website,
www.roche-trials.com and search for PLX4032.
Alternatively, call Roche's Medical Information Line on 1800 233 950.
To help Brendan raise money for melanoma research go to:
www.everydayhero.com.au/brendanr
Or to find out how you can 'Ban the Tan' this summer head to:
www.clareolivermelanomafund.org
Full transcript:
STORY -
LIZ HAYES: In chilly Birmingham, in the UK, Brendan Robbins is about as far from the Australian sun as he can get. And that's fine with him because it's the reason he's facing death. He's come here on holiday with his English girlfriend, Hannah, to steel himself for the battle ahead.
BRENDAN ROBBINS: You just assume that you're going to live 60, 70 years, like most people do. And then you find out when you're 23 that you got melanoma across your body, it makes you look at your life a lot differently.
LIZ HAYES: Brendan's body is riddled with melanomas, devastating cancerous tumours caused by the sun's rays. It started 12 months ago with a mole on the side of his head. Diagnosed as malignant, it soon spread to his neck and brain.
BRENDAN ROBBINS: There's one in my abs, there's one in my back, there's one in my ribs and there's just one down in my groin area as well. And they said it's moving very quickly and it's advanced.
LIZ HAYES: A diagnosis like Brendan's used to be a virtual death sentence, but he and thousands of other melanoma patients now have reason to hope, thanks to an incredible new drug. What it's done is put your life back on track. And that means you go to work?
CHARLES GRIFFIN: I go to work and have holidays and eat with the family and renovate the house - all thanks to a little pill, yep.
LIZ HAYES: A pretty bloody good pill!
CHARLES GRIFFIN: Yeah, it is. Yeah.
LIZ HAYES: That 57-year-old Charles Griffin is even alive today is extraordinary, let alone embracing family life again with wife Debbie and his three children. 10 months ago he was bedridden and fighting for his life. But then a lifeline - he was one of the first in the world to be offered the new drug.
DEBBIE GRIFFIN: This drug is like a miracle. It's amazing and it's given us new hope and I don't think we think short-term anymore, I think now we're thinking long-term - we're now thinking there's a real future for us and, you know, we'll be married for a lot longer than 31 years, which is lovely.
LIZ HAYES: Looks just like any other pill. Can I pick one up? Yeah, that's it.
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: A capsule like many others.
LIZ HAYES: That's it. That is the pill of hope, as it's been called. It's called the PLX4032 and Melbourne cancer specialist Professor Grant McArthur is part of its worldwide trial. Almost unbelievably, this wonder drug is stopping cancer in its tracks.
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: In fact, this is really the beginning of a new era in the way we're treating cancer - understand what goes wrong in the cancer cell, what genes are changed and very rationally, in a designed way, turn off genes that are malfunctioning - in a very specific way - to hopefully get better outcomes and better survival for people with cancer.
LIZ HAYES: And that's great news when you consider nearly 11,000 Australians are diagnosed with melanoma every year. Of those, 1,500 will die.
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: Melanoma is a very common cancer in Australia. It's heading now towards 1 in 20 Australians will get melanoma in their lifetime.
LIZ HAYES: Professor McArthur deals with the tragedy of melanoma every day. Two years ago, one of his patients, Clare Oliver used her last days to warn us all about the dangers of tanning.
CLARE OLIVER: I know it's so easy to, yeah, look at magazines and look at celebrities and look at how beautiful they are, but also look at me - what do you choose? I think I choose life - I choose to be fair.
LIZ HAYES: But despite the constant human toll and intensive public campaigns the numbers of melanoma deaths have not dropped, many of them far too young.
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: In fact, melanoma is the commonest cause of cancer death in people aged between 15 and 40 in Australia.
LIZ HAYES: And that's been consistent - we've not been able to tackle it up to this point, have we?
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: No, the death rates from melanoma, unfortunately have stayed relatively constant.
LIZ HAYES: Are you scared?
BRENDAN ROBBINS: I was scared, but I'm not anymore.
LIZ HAYES: Why not?
BRENDAN ROBBINS: I don't know. I've got a very strong mind, very positive.
LIZ HAYES: You don't think you're going to die?
BRENDAN ROBBINS: No.
LIZ HAYES: Did you have any idea, Hannah, of just how serious a melanoma could be?
HANNAH JOHNSON: I'd never...I'd heard of skin cancer, but it's not a big thing in England at all. So I didn't know a lot about it at all. But as soon as he came back from the doctor's I, of course, went on the computer and I was absolutely horrified of what it actually is and, yeah, I was devastated.
LIZ HAYES: You knew this was a serious situation?
HANNAH JOHNSON: Yeah.
LIZ HAYES: Like so many young Australian men Brendan loves sport. Hours in the sun, often without protection. Were you aware of the dangers of the sun?
BRENDAN ROBBINS: You sort of think that you're invincible sometimes because, you know, nothing's going to happen bad to you. You know, you're that type of guy that thinks it's never going to happen, but...
LIZ HAYES: It happens to someone else?
BRENDAN ROBBINS: Mmm.
LIZ HAYES: It happened to Charles Griffin when his wife, Debbie, spotted a suspicious mole.
DEBBIE GRIFFIN: It was tiny. It was like someone had drawn a black texta dot on the top of his head, but it was black. I said to him, "I have never seen a melanoma in my life "but this doesn't look good."
LIZ HAYES: His doctor soon confirmed it wasn't good.
CHARLES GRIFFIN: We went in and he said, "Unfortunately, it's a T5, "which is sort of the worst level," and that "if I was you I'd get your personal affairs in order". So, they were pretty bleak words, from my point of view. Then they discovered it had gone into my lungs and into my liver and they were inoperable.
LIZ HAYES: Melanomas are caused by the sun's effects on our genes. In 50% of cases, it's the B-Raf gene that mutates to form the cancer and it's in those cases the drug can be used, turning off the mutant gene. Unlike chemotherapy, which attacks both good and bad cells, the new treatment targets only the cancer. Cancer growth is stopped and existing tumours shrink and sometimes even disappear.
LIZ HAYES: How dramatic have the results been for some of the patients?
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: Well, there's been one patient so far on the trial where the tumours have completely disappeared and 70% have had a major reduction in the size of their tumours.
LIZ HAYES: These 3-D scans detail the devastating spread of melanomas throughout a patient's body. And this is the same patient just two weeks after the treatment. The results are truly astonishing. What do we know about the tumours that stay within the body?
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: We've done some biopsies after treatment with the drug showing there's been a lot of death of the melanoma cells inside the tumours.
LIZ HAYES: So they may stay there, but they may be dead, benign tumours?
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: They may be dead. They may be somewhat dormant, but they're under control. Now, I've got some good news. I'd like to show you your CT scans.
LIZ HAYES: Charles Griffin has been on the drug since last Christmas. His tumours have shrunk dramatically.
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: Here's a scan of your chest. You can barely see one of those lumps in the lung, which has reduced substantially in size, which I'm very, very happy with, that response.
CHARLES GRIFFIN: Yep.
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: And, importantly, Charles, no new ones, which is also extremely important.
LIZ HAYES: When you were obviously all out of options, how did you feel when this glimmer of hope came up?
CHARLES GRIFFIN: I've had people say to me, "How does it feel to be a guinea pig?" I just saw it as a fantastic opportunity. Lucky me to be able to tap into this huge resource and if I can provide them with a means of testing something, then good and well.
LIZ HAYES: Happy guinea pig?
CHARLES GRIFFIN: Yeah, why not? Give it a go.
LIZ HAYES: Charles takes eight of the trial drugs every day. He's back at work and the future looks bright. And what he's living with now should be survival for some time?
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: I certainly hope so. He's got a great quality of life, he's able to work, he's able to go on holidays, he's able to live his life - like you and I, Liz.
LIZ HAYES: The signs are good, but scientists are wary of giving patients false hope. Two more crucial trials are needed before they can officially prove its effectiveness. But if successful, it may open the door to medicine's holy grail - a true cure for cancer. I understand your caution, but if this drug is working for melanomas, then there must be hope that it will work for other cancers?
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: The next trials after melanoma are being conducted in colorectal cancer but, in fact, 6% to 7% of all cancers have mutations in the B-Raf gene, so this could have implications for other cancers as well. But clearly trials need to be done.
LIZ HAYES: If all the boxes can be ticked, how soon would you expect a drug like this to be routine treatment?
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: One would hope within two to three years.
LIZ HAYES: You can't tell me you haven't gone home to your wife and whispered, "I think we've got a breakthrough!"
PROFESSOR GRANT McARTHUR: I have expressed a degree of excitement at home with my wife and family about this treatment.
LIZ HAYES: Back home in Melbourne, Brendan is a possible candidate for the second round of melanoma trials. For him, success stories like Charles's are just the inspiration he needs. Time is not on Brendan's side. The trials may be his best hope. But while he waits this courageous 24-year-old is determined to make sure that other young people learn from his story. Even on a day like today the light is harmful.
BRENDAN ROBBINS: Um, yeah, the thing is because the sun's not out doesn't mean that you still can't get burnt. You know you should be wearing a hat.
LIZ HAYES: I know, I should be wearing a hat. No, you're right.
BRENDAN ROBBINS: Or a beanie.
LIZ HAYES: Do you dare to dream?
BRENDAN ROBBINS: I try to dream, you know, of living longer - having kids, having a family, getting married. Things can change very quickly when you've got a melanoma.
LIZ HAYES: You are on the fight of your life.
BRENDAN ROBBINS: Yeah.
LIZ HAYES: How important is it to have Hannah with you?
BRENDAN ROBBINS: Yeah, it's great - it's absolutely great. And, you know, I couldn't... It's tough, it tough. It's tough on her and, you know, it's tough on everyone else, so... especially the family, so.
LIZ HAYES: There's hope though, Hannah.
BRENDAN ROBBINS: There is, there definitely is, and together, like, together we can beat it.
