Daily News

Blood cancer drug halves risk of progressio­n - study

GSK’S multiple myeloma drug Blenrep nearly halved the risk of disease progressio­n or death compared to standard-of-care treatments for the incurable blood cancer, according to data from a late-stage study presented at a medical meeting yesterday.

In the trial of 302 patients with relapsed or difficult-to-treat multiple myeloma, 71% of those who received Blenrep in combinatio­n with the steroid dexamethas­one and pomalidomi­de were alive without their disease worsening at the end of a year.

That compared with progressio­n-free survival (PFS) of 51% of those who were treated with pomalidomi­de, dexamethas­one and bortezomib. Pomalidomi­de is a generic version of Bristol Myers Squibb’s BMY.N Pomalyst, while bortezomib is the generic of Takeda Pharmaceut­icals’ 4502.T Velcade.

“The ability to be able to offer a drug like Blenrep that is administer­ed on an outpatient basis, does not require hospitalis­ation, can be available in a community setting and is not restricted by manufactur­ing challenges, like cell therapies, is really important,” GSK oncology executive Hesham Abdullah said during an interview.

Detailed data from the trial was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago yesterday.

Blenrep has had setbacks over the last couple of years, including being pulled from the lucrative US market in 2022 after it failed to show superiorit­y over an existing treatment in a separate late-stage study.

The top-line data from this trial, released in March, showing it had met the main goal of significan­tly improving PFS over a current standard treatment regimen, appeared to signal a comeback for the drug.

More than half of the Blenrep patients were alive without disease progressio­n after a median follow-up of 21.8 months compared with 12.7 months PFS for the standard of care, the company said.

The British drugmaker plans to file marketing applicatio­ns with global regulators in the second half of 2024.

Eye-related side effects led to a 9% treatment discontinu­ation rate from the study but were generally reversible and manageable through dose modificati­ons, GSK said.

Roughly 35 780 new multiple myeloma cases are likely to be diagnosed, with 12 540 deaths expected to occur in the US this year, according to the American Cancer Society.