An independent data monitoring committee has told Roche to halt a study of its experimental lung cancer drug MetMab due to a lack of efficacy. Injectable MetMab (onartuzumab) was being tested in combination with Roche’s established lung cancer pill Tarceva (erlotinib) in patients with previously treated, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumours were identified as MET-positive compared to Tarceva alone. The committee said that the current study of the drug should be stopped because it wasn’t shown to work in patients with non-small cell lung cancer when combined with in late-stage studies. Overall adverse event rates were generally similar between the two groups, Roche said, adding that more data would be submitted for presentation at a forthcoming medical meeting. “These results are disappointing because new options are needed for patients with lung cancer, the most common and deadly cancer worldwide,” said Sandra Horning, chief medical officer at Roche. She added: “We remain committed to helping patients with lung cancer and are studying several investigational medicines in this disease.” A number of analysts have touted MetMab as a potential blockbuster because of the limited treatment options for lung cancers, but this failure may dampen its short-term prospects. Roche said it is now “evaluating the implications of the METLung study results across the ongoing onartuzumab clinical programme”. But while the MetMab data is a setback, analysts at private bank J. Safra Sarasin told Reuters that any fall in Roche stock ‘would be limited’ as the drug wasn’t among those seen as a major catalyst for the company in 2014. Cancer pathways Roche itself has the EGFR treatments Tarceva and Avastin (bevacizumab) on the market to treat NSCLC at various stages, both of which are used in combination with chemotherapy agents, so is looking to MetMab as a new treatment for a different cancer pathway. MetMab targets the MET protein which is found on the surface of cells and acts as a receptor that binds to another protein called Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF), also known as ‘Scatter Factor’. When HGF binds to MET, it causes MET proteins to form pairs, which triggers a signalling cascade that tells cells to grow, divide, and spread to other parts of the body.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 12:05:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015