Several Charlotte doctors offer immunotherapy trials

Immunotherapy is an emerging field of cancer treatment that, as the word suggests, focuses on the immune system.

Instead of attacking cancer cells directly with chemotherapy or radiation, immunotherapy drugs harness the immune system so the body’s own killer T cells can attack the cancer. Because these drugs are not specific for any type of tumor, researchers believe they can be effective for many cancers.

Since 2010, immunotherapy drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of melanoma, lung and prostate cancer.

Many immunotherapy drugs are available to advanced cancer patients only through clinical trials. Many early Phase I trials are offered only through large academic medical centers. In Charlotte, they’re available through several oncologists at Carolinas HealthCare System’s Levine Cancer Institute and also through a private oncologist, Dr. John Powderly in Huntersville.

Since 2009, researchers at Carolinas HealthCare have enrolled 64 patients in nine clinical trials with immunotherapy drugs. One of them was the nivolumab trial for kidney cancer that saved Christopher Lawing’s life in 2011. (See related story.)

Because of immunotherapy, “people are living longer. It’s amazing to see,” said Dr. Edward Kim, chairman of solid tumor oncology at Levine Cancer Institute.

Powderly got licensed to offer Phase I clinical trials in 2003. Two years later, he opened a solo practice, Carolina BioOncology Institute, where he focuses on these early trials of immunotherapy drugs.

Since 2005, Powderly has treated 500 patients in 55 Phase I trials of immunotherapy drugs for a variety of cancers. Many patients don’t survive. But like Lawing, some have improved beyond expectation.

Among them is John Nelson, 78, of Lowesville, in Lincoln County. He has lived six years since he first received nivolumab.

Nelson, who spent 25 years as a mechanic with Duke Energy, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2006 and had surgery to remove most of his left lung. In 2008, after the cancer spread to his right adrenal gland, he had another operation, followed by chemotherapy. His cancer continued to grow, and he suffered difficult chemo side effects, including burns on his arms.

When his three daughters took him to Powderly, Nelson agreed to enroll in a clinical trial. “What choice did I have? It was either try or dig a hole.”

Nelson got infusions every two weeks for two years. Now he gets follow-up CT scans every month or so. Powderly says Nelson is in “near remission” with only a “dormant scar tumor” left.

This story was originally published May 16, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Several Charlotte doctors offer immunotherapy trials."