Cancer research: Amgen drug extends survival in some inoperable colon cancers

Amgen's monoclonal antibody, known chemically as panitumumab, belongs to a class of drugs called EGFR inhibitors. The standard treatment in many countries, however, is an anti-VEGF antibody like Roche's

In the trial of more than 800 patients with metastatic colon cancer and the "wild-type," or natural non-mutated, RAS genes, participants received standard chemotherapy plus either Vectibix or Avastin. An average of five years later, patients with right-side tumors did not see a survival advantage for one drug over the other. But among the 604 patients with left-side tumors, the risk of death during the study was 18% lower for those who got Amgen's drug, researchers said.

Participants in the 722-patient trial provided their own stem cells to be stored and reinfused during a transplant. Half then underwent transplantation before receiving multiple cycles of a three-drug protocol that included Bristol Myers Squibb's Stem cell transplants are grueling and can have serious side effects but remain the standard of care, study leader Dr. Paul Richardson of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston said in an interview. Doctors can now tell patients: "You've got choices. We can treat you with triple-drug therapy and see how you do, and you can keep transplant in reserve.

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