<span id="midArticle_start"/><span id="midArticle_0"/>May 29 A Merck & Co drug that helps theimmune system fight cancer was about twice as effective as thecurrent standard therapy for patients with recurrent or advancedhead and neck cancers, according to study data released onFriday.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>A quarter of the 132 patients who received the drug,Keytruda (pembrolizumab), saw their tumors shrink by at least 30percent. Fifty-six percent of patients experienced at least sometumor shrinkage in the ongoing single drug Phase I study dubbedKeynote-012, researchers reported.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>"This is remarkable because we don't usually see this levelof activity with new agents. We have a track record of failure,"said Dr. Tanguy Seiwert, lead author of the study from theUniversity of Chicago.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>Advanced head and neck cancer is currently treated with EliLilly's Erbitux, known chemically as cetuximab, whichtypically has a response rate of 10 percent to 13 percent.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> <span class="first-article-divide"/>"The only thing that works is cetuximab and this looks atleast twice as good," said Seiwert, who was presenting theKeytruda data at the American Society of Clinical Oncologymeeting in Chicago.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Keytruda and Opdivo from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co areat the forefront of a promising new class of drugs called PD-1inhibitors that block a mechanism tumors use to evade the immunesystem. Keytruda is approved to treat advanced melanoma andawaits a decision for use in lung cancer. It is being testedagainst 30 types of cancer alone and in various combinations.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> <span class="second-article-divide"/>While overall survival data was not yet available, Keytrudaand Opdivo have extended survival for some patients in othercancers.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>"Response rate doesn't do this justice," Seiwert said. "Afraction of those patients will probably have long termsurvival. It can really make a difference for some patients whohave incurable metastatic disease."
<span id="midArticle_8"/> <span class="third-article-divide"/>The drug appeared to work as well for patients whose cancertested positive for human papillomavirus as those who were HPVnegative. Some older treatments may be less effective in HPVpositive patients, researchers said.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>Keytruda was well tolerated with few side effects, Seiwertsaid. Serious immune-related side effects, such as inflammationof the lungs or colon, were reported in a very small number ofpatients in the study.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancerworldwide. Patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neckcancer are usually expected to live about 10 to 12 months.
<span id="midArticle_11"/>(Reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Diane Craft)
<span id="midArticle_12"/>
<span id="midArticle_1"/>A quarter of the 132 patients who received the drug,Keytruda (pembrolizumab), saw their tumors shrink by at least 30percent. Fifty-six percent of patients experienced at least sometumor shrinkage in the ongoing single drug Phase I study dubbedKeynote-012, researchers reported.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>"This is remarkable because we don't usually see this levelof activity with new agents. We have a track record of failure,"said Dr. Tanguy Seiwert, lead author of the study from theUniversity of Chicago.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>Advanced head and neck cancer is currently treated with EliLilly's Erbitux, known chemically as cetuximab, whichtypically has a response rate of 10 percent to 13 percent.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> <span class="first-article-divide"/>"The only thing that works is cetuximab and this looks atleast twice as good," said Seiwert, who was presenting theKeytruda data at the American Society of Clinical Oncologymeeting in Chicago.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Keytruda and Opdivo from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co areat the forefront of a promising new class of drugs called PD-1inhibitors that block a mechanism tumors use to evade the immunesystem. Keytruda is approved to treat advanced melanoma andawaits a decision for use in lung cancer. It is being testedagainst 30 types of cancer alone and in various combinations.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> <span class="second-article-divide"/>While overall survival data was not yet available, Keytrudaand Opdivo have extended survival for some patients in othercancers.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>"Response rate doesn't do this justice," Seiwert said. "Afraction of those patients will probably have long termsurvival. It can really make a difference for some patients whohave incurable metastatic disease."
<span id="midArticle_8"/> <span class="third-article-divide"/>The drug appeared to work as well for patients whose cancertested positive for human papillomavirus as those who were HPVnegative. Some older treatments may be less effective in HPVpositive patients, researchers said.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>Keytruda was well tolerated with few side effects, Seiwertsaid. Serious immune-related side effects, such as inflammationof the lungs or colon, were reported in a very small number ofpatients in the study.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancerworldwide. Patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neckcancer are usually expected to live about 10 to 12 months.
<span id="midArticle_11"/>(Reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Diane Craft)
<span id="midArticle_12"/>
via Smart Health Shop Forum http://ift.tt/1dCd8Hc
No comments:
Post a Comment