Reports from the Field: Cancer drugs shrink tumors
Reports from the Field: Cancer drugs shrink tumors
Two investigational cancer drugs not only may limit the growth of existing tumors but also may prevent cancer development in high-risk patients with breast and colorectal cancer, according to data presented at the Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Hamburg, Germany.
Hormone inactivator for breast cancer
Early results from a phase II study found that exemestane tablets, an oral aromatase inactivator being studied as a first-line treatment for breast cancer, were more than 20% more effective than tamoxifen for treating advanced breast cancer. In the objective response rate, a measurement of how the tumor optimally reacts to the treatment, patients in the exemestane group experienced a 42% objective response rate, compared with 16% for the tamoxifen group. In addition, average time of tumor growth and spread was slower in the exemestane group at 8.9 months, compared with 5.9 months for the tamoxifen group.
The drug is the first in a new class of oral hormonal inactivator therapies. It binds with the aromatase enzyme and prevents it from producing estrogen, which some breast cancers need for growth.
Results from a recently completed phase II study of the drug in breast cancer patients before surgery also were presented. Exemestane was provided to patients in an effort to shrink large primary breast cancers before surgical removal. In a sample of 13 postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, exemestane resulted in a median tumor volume reduction of 83% over the course of three months as assessed by ultrasound.
Drug prevents vessel growth
Clinical studies of SU5416, a synthetic small molecule inhibitor, indicate the drug reduces tumors in patients with colorectal cancer by as much as 50%. SU5416 works by inhibiting the growth of new blood vessels that cancerous tumors use to provide nutrients and oxygen essential for their growth, causing tumors to slow or halt growth.
In a phase I/II study of 27 patients treated with SU5416 in combination with 5-FU/leucovorin, 37% of patients had a complete or partial response to treatment, with tumor reduction of greater than 50% of original size. More than 40% of patients had stable disease, meaning tumors had neither grown nor reduced in size. Only 7% of patients showed no response to the treatment.
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