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Researchers at Israel's Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer announced Sunday that a targeted anti-cancer drug that they had developed in collaboration with drug giants AstraZeneca and Merck & Co. Inc. offered a "potential hope." to patients with a specific type of pancreatic cancer because disease progression.
Dr. Talia Golan, director of Sheba Medical Center's Pancreatic Cancer Treatment Center, has conducted research and clinical trials on AstraZeneca and MSD, with Merck being called out of the United States to evaluate the drug. safety and test the effectiveness of a new treatment regimen. based on Lynparza, or olaprib, tablets.
The tablets are a pharmacological inhibitor of the enzyme poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, or PARP. PARP inhibitors are a group of drugs that inhibit the enzyme. They have been developed for a number of indications, but more particularly for the treatment of cancer, since several forms of cancer depend more on the enzyme to develop than regular cells. This makes PARP an attractive target for cancer treatment.
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Those who received the drug in the study took an average of 7.4 months before their disease worsened, what are known as "progression-free survival" rates, compared to 3 , 8 months in the placebo group, the researchers said.
The study, called POLO, involved 154 patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and carriers of BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 gene mutations. Patients with these mutations "form a small subgroup of sufferers. of a metastatic pancreatic cancer, "said the researchers in their study. Golan said in an interview that this subgroup accounts for 6-7% of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
The results of the randomized, double-blind phase III study with a placebo control group will be published in July in the New England Journal of Medicine, partners announced.
"The POLO trial using the Lynparza drug offers potential hope for those who are suffering from metastatic pancreatic cancer and who have a BRCA mutation," Golan said in his release. "This treatment also illustrates the advent of" precision medicine "based on a specific genetic biomarker, BRCA 1 & 2."
In the study, patients were randomly assigned to obtain the tablets, at a dose of 300 mg twice daily, or placebo.
However, although the drug slows the progression of the disease, an interim analysis showed no difference in overall survival between those taking the drug and the placebo group – a median of 18.9 months versus 18, 1 month, says the study.
Pancreatic cancer is the 12th most common cancer in the world, with 458,918 new cases in 2018 alone. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer death and accounts for 7% of all cancer deaths, according to Cancer.Net. The five-year survival rate of people with pancreatic cancer is 9%. Cancer is often difficult to diagnose because there is no effective and cost-effective way to detect the disease, which means it is often detected at a later stage when it has spread. For the 52% of people diagnosed after the spread of cancer, the 5-year survival rate is 3%, says Cancer.Net.
"When we found that the results were positive, we experienced an exceptional and phenomenal moment," Golan said during an interview. "For the field, it's a huge thing."
She added that it was the first phase 3 positive biomarker study in pancreatic cancer and that the drug "offers tremendous hope to patients" with advanced cancer. "This drug has been shown to be effective and a tremendous phenomenal response in this patient population," she said.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are human genes that produce proteins responsible for the repair of damaged DNA and play an important role in maintaining the genetic stability of cells. When one or the other of these genes is mutated or altered, so that its protein product is not manufactured or does not work properly, damage to the DNA may not occur. not be repaired properly and the cells become unstable. As a result, cells are more likely to develop additional genetic changes that can lead to cancer. A significant number of Ashkenazi Jews (of European origin) around the world carry the BRCA 1 & 2 genes.
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