Tykerb (lapatinib) kills breast cancer
GlaxoSmithKline Plc announced further clinical trial results on Sunday underlining the ability of a drug combination including its product Tykerb to fight breast cancer that has spread to the brain.
An extension to an earlier Phase II study involving 49 patients showed 20 percent of those receiving a mix of Tykerb and Roche’s Xeloda experienced at least a 50 percent volume reduction in measurable brain metastases.
The finding is significant because up to a third of women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer may develop brain metastases, which occur when cancer spreads from its original site.
The results were presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, Texas.
Tykerb, a once-daily pill, was approved by U.S. regulators in March and won a conditional green light from the European Medicines Agency on Friday.
It is recommended as a treatment, in combination with Xeloda, for patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose tumors over-express protein HER2.
Tykerb kills breast cancer stem cells
A combination drug, Tykerb, known generically as lapatinib, appears to be able to fight breast cancer that has spread to the brain, media reported Tuesday.
For the first time, researchers have shown that the drug can slash the number of cancer stem cells in women with breast cancer, curbing tumor growth.
The latest theory of what causes cancer namely is that stem cells hiding within tumors drive their growth. Conventional treatments fail to cure cancer, according to the theory, because they are targeting the wrong cells.
Six weeks of Tykerb treatment slashed the number of breast cancer stem cells by more than half in 30 women studied, and two-thirds were cancer-free after follow-up treatment, says Jenny Chang, MD, of Baylor University in Houston.
The finding is significant because up to one third of women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer may develop brain metastases.
About TYKERB/TYVERB(3)
TYKERB/TYVERB (lapatinib) is a first-in-class oral small-molecule inhibitor of the HER2 (ErbB2) tyrosine kinase receptor. Stimulation of HER2 is associated with cell proliferation and with multiple processes involved in tumor progression and metastases. Overexpression of this receptor has been reported in a variety of human tumors and is associated with poor prognosis and reduced overall survival. On March 13, 2007, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved TYKERB, in combination with capecitabine, for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose tumors overexpress HER2 and who have received prior therapy including an anthracycline, a taxane, and trastuzumab.
TYVERB has been approved in more than 15 countries, and marketing applications for TYKERB/TYVERB have been filed around the world.
About GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline — one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies — is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.