Targeted Cancer Therapies Continue to Impress
Mar. 23 -- SATURDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Small scientific steps are making headway against various cancers, many of which are historically difficult to treat.
Two much-watched drugs of the past year, Sprycel and Avastin, are again showing good results in new trials, according to research presented Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, in Chicago.
"Molecular targeted therapies that were developed a few years ago are being expanded dramatically in scope," said Dr. Robert F. Ozols, senior vice president of the medical science division at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and chairman of ASCO's communications committee.
"These are incremental advances, but they're important," added Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "I don't see anything in the plenary session or any other special session that stands out as a major breakthrough. We've come to a time when these advances are becoming routine, and that's a good thing."
Preliminary findings from a phase II trial of Sprycel (dasatinib) found high response rates to the drug when used in newly diagnosed patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
The drug is currently approved as a second-line treatment for CML in patients who have developed resistance to Gleevec (imatinib), the standard first-line treatment. Both drugs are targeted therapies.
After three months, 81 percent of patients taking Sprycel had a complete hematologic response, meaning normal blood counts and no enlargement of the spleen. Seventy-three percent of patients had complete cytogenetic response, meaning no evidence of the "Philadelphia chromosome," which harbors the abnormality responsible for the disease. After six months, 95 percent had complete cytogenetic response, the trial found.
In previous studies, 54 percent of patients receiving a lower dose of Gleevec and 85 percent of those receiving a higher dose had complete cytogenetic response. The results of the two studies cannot be directly compared, however, because the Sprycel results are so preliminary.
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