ASCO Confab: Who's Grabbing the Spotlight?

Celgene's Revlimid

According to interim phase III trial data released at ASCO, 26.5% of patients taking Celgene's (CELG Quote) Revlimid plus dexamethasone saw a complete response to the treatment compared with 4.1% who took a placebo plus dexamethasone.

In a trial involving 354 heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma patients, about half received Revlimid plus dexamethasone and half dexamethasone alone. The median patient age was 64 years in the Revlimid plus dexamethasone arm vs. 62 in the dexamethasone-alone arm of the trial.

An independent monitoring committee reviewed the planned interim analysis of clinical data and determined that the U.S. phase III trial vastly exceeded the expected efficacy. These data confirmed positive trial results previously reported, and studies are ongoing.

ImClone Medical Chief Speaks

ImClone's (IMCL Quote) chief medical officer, Dr. Eric Rowinsky, says cancer researchers are working to "develop selective agents to thwart highly specific molecular aberrations" that target specific areas of the complex networks involved in tumor growth.

"It's na?ve to think that any one manipulation by a single agent will produce robust results," Rowinsky says, "except when targets are highly aberrant."

For example, mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway are high in people of Japanese ancestry, so EGFR-targeting drugs are more effective for that population. However, there is no readily identifiable "driving" aberration that causes and accelerates tumor growth. It's important to find the most effective combinations of cancer drugs, Rowinsky says, but this goal has been a "bottleneck in cancer research."

Mesothelioma Trials Disappoint

Genentech's Avastin and AstraZeneca's Iressa produced disappointing results in mesothelioma trials.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the protective layer that covers the internal organs. The rare disease occurs mostly in patients who have been exposed to asbestos particles.

In a small phase II study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., patients taking Avastin in addition to chemotherapy drugs gemcitabine and cisplatin survived without disease progression for 6.4 months on average. The goal of the study was to achieve progression-free survival of seven months with the addition of Avastin, compared with four months for patients on gemcitabine and cisplatin alone.