Last year colleagues and I published two articles (cited below) on the potential toxicity of the new FDA-approved melanoma drug, ipilimumab (Yervoy®). These papers appeared in the peer-reviewed journals Pharmacological Research and in Immunobiology. Some people thought we were being "spoil sports" when we pointed out the potential danger of this immune-targeting agent. But now a 17-page paper has appeared that confirms our suspicions. Thirty-six dermatologists from German-speaking universities are reporting in PLOS One that the drug causes adverse effects (AEs) in up to 64% of patients. Out of 752 patients studied, a total of 120 adverse events "some of which were life-threatening or even fatal" were reported. And the cost of the treatment? $120,000 per patient for the drug alone. Much more on this in a coming issue of ADVANCES (my monthly newsletter available at cancerdecisions) Here are the references in question: Bakacs T, Mehrishi JN, Szabó M, Moss RW. Interesting possibilities to improve the safety and efficacy of ipilimumab (Yervoy). Pharmacol Res. 2012 Aug;66(2):192-7 Bakacs T, Mehrishi JN, Moss RW. Ipilimumab (Yervoy) and the TGN1412 catastrophe. Immunobiology. 2012 Jun;217(6):583-9. Voskens CJ, Goldinger SM, Loquai C, et al. The price of tumor control: an analysis of rare side effects of anti-CTLA-4 therapy in metastatic melanoma from the ipilimumab network. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(1):e53745. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053745.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:24:55 +0000
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