New drug ups survival in advanced colon cancer
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Among patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to other areas of the body and who have not been helped by standard chemotherapy, a new drug called panitumumab produces a highly significant improvement in time without worsening of disease, according to data released at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
“Panitumumab is a new important treatment option for patients with chemo-resistant colorectal cancer, and it can add to the survival of these patients and their quality of life,” researcher Dr. Marc Peeters from University Hospital Ghent in Belgium said at a press briefing.
Panitumumab targets a growth factor receptor that is a key player in cancer cell growth.
In the study of 463 highly pre-treated patients with chemo-resistant colorectal cancer, those who were given panitumumab plus best supportive care showed a 46 percent decrease in the rate of tumor progression compared with patients who received best supportive care only.
By the first scheduled assessment at week 8, significantly more panitumumab-treated patients were alive without progression (49 percent) than those receiving only supportive care (30 percent). “A difference in the percentage of patients alive favoring panitumumab continued through week 32,” the research team reported.
Commenting on the results, Dr. James L. Abbruzzese from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston who was not involved in the trial said one “distinguishing feature” of the trial was that the effect of panitumumab was obvious “early on, where patients on best supportive care alone were either failing or dying very quickly.”
Panitumumab was well tolerated with very few major adverse events and no treatment-related deaths. The most common side effect was skin rash seen in the majority of patients, but less than 1 percent discontinued treatment because of this. Other side effects included fatigue, nausea and diarrhea.
Last week, Amgen Inc., which is developing panitumumab with Abgenix Inc., a biotechnology company it is in the process of acquiring, announced it has applied for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug for colon cancer.
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