CHICAGO (Reuters) - The commonly used cancer drug Avastin helped slow tumor growth in patients with advanced forms of lung cancer, the leading cancer killer worldwide, a study presented on Saturday found.
The drug kept tumors from growing for a few weeks, but some experts said it was a significant if incremental step forward in an effort to find treatments for a disease that kills about 1.3 million people annually.
"It's a step-wise improvement that we are making," according to Roy Herbst, a professor of medicine at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and moderator of a panel on treatments for tough-to-treat cancers.
Patients who got Avastin and standard chemotherapy lived a median of 6.7 months before their tumors started growing again, compared to 6.1 months for patients on standard chemotherapy alone.
About one-third of patients getting Avastin added to a standard chemotherapy saw their tumors shrink, compared with about 20 percent of patients getting just chemotherapy.
Known generically as bevacizumab, Avastin was originally approved to treat colon cancer and now is approved for breast cancer in Europe and lung cancer in the United States.
The drug, sold by Genentech Inc. in the United States and Swiss drugs firm Roche AG in Europe, is the first in a class that seeks to starve tumors of their blood and nutrients. It had sales of about $1.85 billion in 2006, and the companies hope expanded uses will boost the franchise.
Results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Chicago, the world's top cancer gathering, where tens of thousands of doctors discussed new treatments.
This study, which was funded by Roche, looked at Avastin with common forms of chemotherapy used in Europe, where it is not approved yet to treat lung cancer.
More people die from lung cancer than from cancers of the colon, breast and prostate combined, according to the American Cancer Society. There are also few treatments and slim chances of survival.
DOSING
In the study, patients were randomized to receive a standard dose of Avastin or a lower dose. Both doses appeared to be similarly effective in stemming tumor growth.
Analysts are looking for clinical advantages from a lower dose, especially as payers worldwide such as Japan and the United Kingdom resist Avastin's steep price. In breast cancer for example, Avastin can cost more than $80,000 a year.
But study author Christian Manegold, a professor of medicine at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and others said the trial was not designed to compare the doses, so conclusions about dosing could not be made before further study.
Patients on Avastin suffered more serious side effects compared to those on a placebo, the most common being high blood pressure and bleeding from the lungs.
About 9 percent of those taking the higher dose of Avastin experienced high blood pressure, compared with 6 percent in the lower-dose group and 2 percent in the placebo group.
Up to 1.5 percent in the low-dose Avastin group of the trial suffered from lung bleeding, compared with less than 1 percent in the high-dose and placebo groups.
The percentage of severe side effects leading to death was similar across all groups.
Source : www.sciam.com
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