Tue, 06/17/2014 - by Neil Canavan .Everyone loves a grand slam: the crack of the bat, the arc of the ball as it sails over the fence, a tip of the batter’s cap, a triumphal trot around as the bases empty out, but really, it’s the lesser efforts that made it all possible—a double, a single, a walk—it’s the incremental gains that win the game. It’s called Small Ball.
This year’s ASCO, absent the heavy hitters, was all about the small ball and the following is a summary of some of the more interesting players that made it on base:
First Base
NBTXR3 - Manufactured by Nanobiotix, of Paris, France, NBTXR3 is a nanoparticle formulation of hafnium oxide crystals. ...
Second base
Lurbinectedin - Manufactured by Zeltia, this drug started out life at the bottom of the ocean as a molecular component of a sea squirt. Many years of development, thousands of squirts, and the synthesis of a few chemical analogs later, lurbinectedin was compared with the standard-of-care, topotecan, in a phase II study of platinum resistant, advanced ovarian cancer patients (N=81).The results of this investigation, presented by Andres Poveda, MD, of the Fundacion Instituto Valenciano de Oncologia in Spain, demonstrated an overall response rate of 54% for lurbinectedin vs. roughly 15% for topotecan. More importantly, progression-free survival was 5.7 months vs. 1.7 months, favoring the contribution of the squirt, and further, the overall survival for topotecan was 8.3 months, while at the time of ASCO reporting, overall survival for lurbinectedin had yet to be reached. ( Que las Pacienes tratadas con Topotecan tengan una Supervivencia Global de 8,3 Meses ... y las Pacientes tratadas con PM01183 aún no se sepa cual sera su Supervivencia Global es sin duda un Exito Oncologico .)
“The response rate was especially impressive in patients with platinum resistance,” said Dr. Poveda.
A phase III trial with lurbinectedin is already underway, and Zeltia divers are continuously undersea, looking for the next potential blockbuster natural compound.
Third base
Ramucirumab - This monoclonal antibody, manufactured by Eli Lily, targets the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR). Targeting the VEGF receptor interferes with tumor-based signaling intended to trigger angiogenesis, thereby blocking the formation of the new blood vessels required for sustained tumor growth. ...
Homerun
Ibrutinib - Pharmacyclics, in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson, has developed this first-in-class, once-daily oral formulation of a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which was approved by the FDA in February 2014 for use in chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL), the most common form of adult leukemia. ...
Practice changing indeed.
Play ball .