WSJ Article Worth Reading

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Carolinabluetec
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WSJ Article Worth Reading

Postby Carolinabluetec » Mon Sep 29, 2014 1:11 pm

From Wall Street Journal today

LONDON—A flurry of new cancer-drug data spilling out of a conference in Europe is offering fresh promise for immunotherapies—drugs that boost patients' immune systems—especially their promise when combined with other immunotherapies and existing drugs.

A highlight from the closely watched conference, which kicked off in Madrid Friday, has been encouraging trial results for immunotherapy drugs that release one specific brake on the immune system—acting on a protein called Programmed Death Receptor 1 (PD-1) or a related target called PD-L1.

AstraZeneca AZN.LN +0.85% PLC, Merck & Co. MRK +0.12% , Roche Holding Ltd. ROG.VX -0.07% and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY +1.25% all presented data on their own experimental PD-1 or PD-L1 drugs, either on their own or in combinations.

Experts believe immunotherapies, still in their developmental infancy, will work best when prescribed in combinations, or when prescribed in tandem with other cancer drugs or chemotherapies. But toxic side effects from combining immunotherapies have raised concerns.

Two PD-1 drugs have already been approved for use on their own. Merck's Keytruda received U.S. approval to treat advanced melanoma earlier this month. Bristol-Myers' drug Opdivo received Japanese approval in July, although it hasn't yet been approved in the U.S.

Data from an early, clinical trial of AstraZeneca's PD-L1 drug—presented Saturday—in combination with another immunotherapy, showed promising results in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, which is one of the most common types of cancer.

The clinical trial was small, with just 18 patients whose data was eligible for analysis, and the drugs were being tested for safety, not effectiveness. But 28% of patients given the combination saw their tumors shrink. It backed up encouraging data from a rival trial of a combination of immunotherapy drugs aimed at the same type of cancer. That trial combined Bristol-Myers' Opdivo and Yervoy, and data presented back in May showed that 22% of patients responded to treatment.

It is hard to compare the relative effectiveness of the two trials, since they were designed differently. But one important result, analysts said, is that AstraZeneca's drug combination saw fewer serious side effects, including fewer patients dropping out of the trial because of the drugs' toxicity.

Still, safety concerns over immunotherapy combinations remain. One patient in the AstraZeneca trial died of a drug-related side effect, which caused severe muscle inflammation. In Bristol-Myers' trial, three patients died of drug-related side effects: respiratory failure, hemorrhage in the lungs and an extreme skin reaction.

AstraZeneca said it would now move its drug combination into late-stage testing. Both companies continue to study different doses of their respective drugs and different intervals between drug dosing.

Roche also disclosed trial results for a combination of its own immunotherapy drug with another treatment Sunday. The trial combined Roche's experimental PD-L1 immunotherapy with Avastin—not an immunotherapy, but an approved Roche drug for breast cancer.

The trials were in patients with kidney and colorectal cancer. They showed more promise in the former test, with a 40% response rate, versus an 8% response rate for the latter. Both were early-stage trials in small sets of patients.

Meanwhile, immunotherapies continue to show promise across a broad range of cancers when used on their own, a number of trial results presented at the conference showed. The drugs showed promise in ovarian, gastric, bladder, pancreatic, head and neck cancers and melanoma.

Data from a Bristol-Myers trial of Opdivo in patients with advanced melanoma, released Monday, showed 32% of patients responded to treatment, versus 11% in the patients on chemotherapy instead. And Merck's drug Keytruda showed encouraging early data in patients with gastric cancer in trial results released Sunday, with 31% of patients treated seeing their cancer shrink.
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