Tykerb Helps Stall Advanced Breast Cancer, Says Glaxo
Featured ArticleMain Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials; Women's Health / Gynecology; Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 03 Jun 2006 - 9:00 PDT
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Tykerb, an experimental drug, helps stall advanced breast cancer, said makers GlaxoSmithkline at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Atlanta, USA. Glaxo said women who had not benefited from Herceptin, another breast cancer drug, benefited when receiving Tykerb.
Tyberb, taken along with Xeloda was shown to be twice as effective in slowing down an aggressive type of breast cancer as Xeloda alone.
Tykerb, a pill, blocks proteins that encourage the development and spread of cancer.
Even though Tykerb is still an experimental drug, it is a potential rival to Herceptin, which belongs to Genentech and its parent company, Roche.
About 400,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer globally each year. After lung cancer, it is the second leading cause of female cancer-related deaths in most developed countries.
In a study of 321 women, all with advanced breast cancer who tested positive for HER2, 160 who received Tykerb with Xeloda had no cancer growth for 36.9 weeks. The other 161 women who were on Xeloda alone experienced no cancer growth for just 19.7 weeks. The trial was stopped so that the women who were not taking Tykerb could do so if they wished.
HER2 is a protein which makes breast cancer more aggressive.
Glaxo is planning to apply for FDA approval for Tykerb later on this year.
Tykerb and Herceptin work in different ways. Herceptin does not enter the cancer cell to block HER2, it binds to the outside of the cell. Tykerb, on the other hand, enters the cancer cell and blocks the protein. Tykerb was also created to block EGFR.
So far, the heart failure side-effect found among some patients taking Herceptin has not so far been detected with Tykerb.
Tykerb is taken once a day as a pill. Herceptin is taken once a month as an infusion.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
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Is Tykerb Better Than Herceptin?
posted by Gregory D. Pawelski on 12 Oct 2006 at 6:55 pmMaybe, for these reasons.
Cells are the most basic structure of the body. Cells make up tissues, and tissues make up organs, such as the lungs or liver. Each cell is surrounded by a membrane, a thin layer that separates the outside of the cell from the inside.
For a cell to perform necessary functions for the body and respond to its surroundings, it needs to communicate with other cells in the body. Communication occurs through chemical messages in a process called signal transduction. The purpose of these signals is to tell the cell what to do, such as when to grow, divide into two new cells, and die.
Targeted cancer therapies use drugs that block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with specific molecules involved in carcinogenesis (the process by which normal cells become cancer cells) and tumor growth. By focusing on molecular and cellular changes that are specific to cancer, targeted cancer therapies may be more effective than current treatments and less harmful to normal cells.
However, the monoclonal antibodies like Herceptin and Erbitux are "large" molecules. These very large molecules don't have a convenient way of getting access to the large majority of cells. Plus, there is multicellular resistance, the drugs affecting only the cells on the outside may not kill these cells if they are in contact with cells on the inside, which are protected from the drug. The cells may pass small molecules back and forth.
Exciting results have come from studies of multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors, "small" molecules that act on multiple receptors in the cancerous cells, like Tyberb and Sutent. Targeted "small-molecule" therapies ruled at the recent annual ASCO meeting of oncologists. The trend is away from the monoclonals to the small molecules, a trend in which a new predictive test may be able to hasten.
The EGRFx (TM) assay is able to test molecularly-targeted anti-cancer drug therapies like Iressa, Tarceva, Tykerb, Sutent and possibly Nexavar, because of being small molecules. The EGFRx (TM) assay relies upon a technique known as Whole Cell Profiling, in which living tumor cells are removed from an individual cancer patient and exposed in the laboratory to the new drugs.
Basically, Whole Cell Profiling measures the response of the tumor cells to drug exposure. Following this exposure, it measures both cell metabolism and cell morphology. The effect of drugs on the whole cell, resulting in a cellular response to the drug, measures the interaction of the entire genome.
A variety of metabolic and apoptotic measurements are then used to determine if a specific drug was successful at killing the patient's cancer cells. The whole cell profiling method differs from other tests in that it assesses the activity of a drug upon combined effect of all cellular processes, using several metabolic (cell metabolism) and morphologic (structure) endpoints, at the cell "population" level (rather than at the "single cell" level).
Other tests, such as those which identify DNA or RNA sequences or expression of individual proteins often examine only one component of a much larger, interactive process. Whole Cell Profiling measures genes before and after drug exposure. Gene Expression Profiles measures the gene expression only in the "resting" state, prior to drug exposure.
FDA Approves Tykerb For Advanced Breast Cancer Patients
posted by Gregory D. Pawelski on 13 Mar 2007 at 6:00 pmFDA Approves Tykerb for Advanced Breast Cancer Patients
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01586.html
What is of particular note is that monoclonal antibodies (like Herceptin) are large molecules that attach to specific proteins on the outside of cancer cells and do not have a convenient way of getting access to a large majority of the targeted cells on the inside, which are protected from the drug. Plus, there is multicellular resistance, the drugs affecting only the cells on the outside may not kill these cells if they are in contact with cells on the inside. The cells may pass small molecules back and forth. This would be a very good reason Tykerb may be much better than Herceptin.
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