Identical driver mutation of gene seen in some cancers

Sanofi cancer drug gets FDA nod

NEW YORK, Oct 1, (Agencies): Driver genes in different metastases from the same patient are remarkably similar, providing optimism for the success of future targeted therapies, according to a published study by Science.

The report, “Minimal Functional Driver Gene Heterogeneity Among Untreated Metastases,” looked at data from samples that have spread from the site of origin to another part of the body in 20 patients with breast, colorectal, endometrial, gastric, lung melanoma, pancreatic or prostate cancers. The researchers found within individual patients, driver gene mutations were common to all metastatic deposits.

Bert Vogelstein, MD, and Kenneth Kinzler, PhD, co-directors of the Ludwig Center at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, and Rachel Karchin, PhD, from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Computational Medicine, were involved in this study.

Vogelstein noted that though there are thousands of mutations in every tumor, the only ones that matter are driver genes.

“If the driver gene mutations in different metastatic lesions from the same patient were heterogeneous, there would be little hope for new targeted therapies to induce clinically important remissions or cures,” Vogelstein said.

Therapies

“Such therapies would shrink only a subset of the metastatic lesions, and the rest would continue to grow unabated. Fortunately, this does not appear to be the case, providing optimism for the success of future targeted therapies, particularly when combinations of such therapies can be used.”

Driver gene mutations can be captured in single biopsies, providing essential information for therapeutic decision making.

“If numerous biopsies from different parts of the tumor were always required to capture this information, the task for the clinician and the discomfort to the patient would be much more challenging,” Vogelstein said.

The authors noted that it will be critical to extend this analysis to larger groups of patients and more cancer types to investigate whether minimal driver gene mutation heterogeneity is a general phenomenon of advanced disease.

NEW YORK:

Also:

Sanofi SA said on Friday its skin cancer drug, made in partnership with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The drug, Libtayo, is used to treat a rare form of skin cancer, in patients whose condition has not improved following surgery or chemotherapy.

Metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is the second-most common form of skin cancer, which accounts for an estimated 7,000 deaths in the United States each year, Sanofi said.

Libtayo, which boosts the immune system to fight cancer, will be sold in the United States at a list price of $9,100 for a three-week treatment cycle.

Cancer immunotherapy has become the fastest-growing segment of the $100 billion-a-year cancer drug market, with sales expected to top $25 billion by 2021, according to analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Sanofi Genzyme, the company’s specialty care unit and Regeneron will market Libtayo jointly in the United States.

LONDON:

AstraZeneca’s immunotherapy drug Imfinzi cut the risk of death in patients with mid-stage lung cancer by nearly a third in a closely watched clinical study, reinforcing the case for using the drug in earlier disease.

The encouraging overall survival data boosts prospects for a medicine that was approved this week in Europe and has already had a promising US commercial launch, based on its ability to slow disease progression.

As the leading cause of cancer deaths, lung cancer represents the biggest opportunity for companies seeking to exploit the power of modern cancer immunotherapies.

Deutsche Bank analysts said the “impressive” results would cement Imfinzi as the standard of care for lung cancer patients whose disease has not yet spread widely. Until now, the five-year survival rate for such patients has been around 15 percent.

AstraZeneca shares rose more than 2 percent and oncology business head David Fredrickson told Reuters the data would be important in driving uptake of the medicine, which he expects to be launched in 40 markets by the end of the year.

Although AstraZeneca announced in May that Imfinzi had successfully extended lives, the scale of the benefit seen in the clinical trial known as Pacific was only disclosed on Tuesday at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Toronto.