Days after Celgene’s Abraxane secured approval in combination with Roche’s checkpoint inhibitor for frontline use in triple negative breast cancer, the US drugmaker reported that the chemotherapy failed to improve progression-free survival in a pivotal study involving pancreatic cancer patients who had undergone surgical resection.
Abraxane is already approved for use in various cancers: metastatic breast cancer, metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as well as metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas as first-line treatment, in combination with gemcitabine.
Pancreatic cancer is relatively rare but notoriously lethal. It is currently the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States — and it’s projected to move into the second slot by 2020, according to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
In the 866-patient apact study, Abraxane was tested in top of gemcitabine versus gemcitabine alone in pancreatic cancer patients following surgical resection. The combination did not induce a statistically significant improvement in disease-free survival — the main goal — as confirmed by independent radiological review, compared to gemcitabine alone. Overall survival, a secondary endpoint of the study, was improved, reaching nominal statistical significance, Celgene said, adding that detailed data will be presented at a future medical meeting.
The drug — which generated about $1.06 billion in sales for Celgene $CELGlast year — is being evaluated in more than 130 studies involving patients with pancreatic cancer.
I have reposted the below... Just so there are no illusions with the potential of Starpharma
Pancreatic cancer and the 3 Amigos and a history lesson
Most of the information below can be located on the internet, in announcements made by Starpharma and reports by analysts
Since the announcement of delay of FDA approval for NDA of BV VivaGel formulation......our focus has not been on the big picture. I would just like to remind everyone that is interested of this
FYI
Almost 9 years ag0 Abraxis BioScience was sold to Celgene for the equivilant of AUD $4 billion
Just this month Celgene is possibly to be acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb for the equilavent of AUD $102 billion
Why did Celgene buy Abraxis Bioscience Inc......Well it had developed an oncology drug called Abraxane. The molecule treats patients with breast, lung, and pancreatic cancer. Total net yearly sales for Abraxine was over AUD $1.388 billion
Gemcitabine was developed by Eli Lilly and Company and when the patent expired in 2009/10 net yearly sales were around AUD $2.4 billion. The drug is used as a first-line treatment alone for pancreatic cancer, and in combination with cisplatin for advanced or metastatic bladder cancer and advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. It is used as a second-line treatment in combination with carboplatin for ovarian cancer and in combination with paclitaxel for breast cancer that is metastatic or cannot be surgically removed
As we all know Pancreatic Cancer is quite deadly....There is no silver bullet.....Does not matter how much money you have
Steve Jobs' last words.
He died a billionaire at 56yrs of Pancreatic Cancer and here are his last words on the sick bed:
"I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes my life is an epitome of success.
However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.
At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and
wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you.
Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – "Life".
When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one book that he has yet to finish reading – "Book of Healthy Life".
Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.
Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends...
Treat yourself well. Cherish others.
As we grow older, and hence wiser, we slowly realize that wearing a $300 or $30 watch - they both tell the same time...
Whether we carry a $300 or $30 wallet/handbag - the amount of money inside is the same;
Whether we drive a $150,000 car or a $30,000 car, the road and distance is the same, and we get to the same destination.
Whether we drink a bottle of $300 or $10 wine - the hangover is the same;
Whether the house we live in is 300 or 3000 sq ft - loneliness is the same.
You will realize, your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world.
Whether you fly first or economy class, if the plane goes down - you go down with it...
Therefore.. I hope you realize, when you have mates, buddies and old friends, brothers and sisters, who you chat with, laugh with, talk with, have sing songs with, talk about north-south-east-west or heaven and earth,
That is true happiness!!
Five Undeniable Facts of Life :
1. Don't educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be Happy. So when they grow up they will know the value of things not the price.
2. Best awarded words in London. "Eat your food as your medicines. Otherwise you have to eat medicines as your food."
3. The One who loves you will never leave you for another because even if there are 100 reasons to give up he or she will find one reason to hold on.
4. There is a big difference between a human being and being human. Only a few really understand it.
5. You are loved when you are born. You will be loved when you die. In between, You have to manage!
NOTE: If you just want to Walk Fast, Walk Alone! But if you want to Walk Far, Walk Together!
Six Best Doctors in the World;
1. Sunlight
2. Rest
3. Exercise
4. Diet
5. Self Confidence and
6. Friends
Maintain them in all stages of Life and enjoy a healthy life.
Sorry I side tracked here....but just wanted to put a bit of human perspective in this post
So let's get to the 3 Amigos
Dep Docetaxel, Dep Cabazitaxel, and Dep Irinotecan
Points made by Starpharma and summarised by BP Analyst (most of this is taken from these sources word for word)
DEP docetaxel and DEP cabazitaxel show superior anticancer activity in Pancreatic
Cancer model
Superior anticancer activity seen both as monotherapy and in combination in Pancreatic
Cancer model
Mice studies in pancreatic cancer have shown significantly improved activity and survival benefit of
treatment with SPL’s DEP docetaxel and DEP cabazitaxel over standard of care drugs gemcitabine
and abraxane in a human pancreatic cancer (xenograft) model.
Mice treated with both the SPL’s drugs had no evidence of tumour (complete regression) around day 30 and the treatment
effect was maintained out to 69 days for DEP cabazitaxel.DEP docetaxel significantly prolonged
survival compared to gemcitabine (p=0.0001) and abraxane (p=0.0077), with 100% of treated mice
being alive at day 69.
Similarly, DEP cabazitaxel significantly prolonged survival compared to gemcitabine (p=0.0001) and abraxane (p=0.0014), with 100% of treated mice being alive at day 69.
Comparatively mice treated with gemcitabine and abraxane alone only exhibited a slight delay in their tumour growth vs. placebo, with none of the treated mice alive at day 69.
DEP cabazitaxel and DEP docetaxel in combination with gemcitabine also significantly outperformed
gemcitabine alone or gemcitabine in combination with abraxane on both tumour growth inhibition
(complete regression with DEP drugs) and survival (P=0.0001). We note that the DEP drugs in
combination resulted in complete tumour regression despite the fact that this human pancreatic
model was relatively unresponsive to the standard of care therapies alone. This highlights that the
effect in combination was synergistic.
DEP docetaxel and DEP cabazitaxel efficacy in pancreatic cancer to be explored further in
humans
We note that docetaxel and cabazitaxel are not approved for pancreatic cancer, hence the choice of
standard of care gemcitabine and abraxane to compare against DEP docetaxel and DEP
cabazitaxel in this exploratory study.
Data from this study builds on the previous impressive preclinical data on various other tumour types with both these drugs. The company also notes that
they had also seen a patient with pancreatic cancer in DEP docetaxel Phase 1 trial have stable
disease for more than 20 weeks with treatment. With the efficacy seen in this mice study, SPL will
now recruit some pancreatic cancer patients in its ongoing Phase 2 trial with DEP docetaxel
(monotherapy arm) and in its ongoing Phase 1/2 trial ongoing with DEP cabazitaxel to further
explore this effect in humans.
Further validation for the DEP platform
This data provides further validation of SPL’s DEP platform with similar preclinical activity
now seen across various drugs and different animal models. We note that previously DEP
irinotecan demonstrated similar superior activity as a monotherapy in a pancreatic cancer model.
With the present study we have now seen such superior anti-cancer activity with DEP drugs
in combination with standard of care which would further enhance its commercial
positioning, given most cancer treatments tend to be a combination of drugs. We initially saw
signals of the synergistic effect of the DEP platform from preclinical data generated by AstraZeneca
for its DEP Bcl2/xL inhibitor, which showed improved efficacy and synergy in combination. The data
from the current study on SPL’s internal drugs provide further evidence of this synergistic effect of
the DEP platform which is encouraging.
SPL Price at posting:
$1.02 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)
