Global pharmaceutical consultancy Kantar Health has cited three cancer research study results to be released at ASCO 2012 (June 1-5, 2012, in Chicago) that may change the way certain advanced cancers are treated. Listed below, courtesy of Oncology Business Review (at www.oncbiz.com), are Kantar’s 3 picks for likely most important new findings in oncology.
1. Responses of patients with castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), who have not yet been treated with chemotherapy, to new targeted therapy Zytiga (abiraterone) plus steroid compared to steroid alone, will be revealed. The goal of this study is to test whether Zytiga can be used successfully in men who have already had hormone therapy and are now resistant to it, before moving on to chemotherapy. Â Chemotherapy is potent but also causes numerous side effects which reduce patient quality of life.
2. Biotech pioneer Genentech is testing its new targeted therapy TDM-1 in metastatic breast cancer patients who have already used Herceptin for their HER2+ metastatic breast cancer, and are now resistant to it. What is exciting about TDM-1, according to Kantar, is that it combines the specficity of targeted therapy with the power of chemotherapy. It will be the first drug of this kind to be launched.
3. Results for two new drugs to treat metastatic melanoma will be reported on at ASCO 2012. These drugs are dabrafenib and trametinib, both produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The studies on these drugs will further establish whether metastatic melanoma can be treated effectively with targeted therapies of different classes.
Source: Oncology Business Review
