AstraZeneca trumpets pancreatic cancer drug success

[nitpicker]

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/business-48470910

(snip)
Posted at 2:392:39

AstraZeneca trumpets pancreatic cancer drug success

Trials of a new pancreatic cancer drug have seen results that are "statistically-significant and clinically-meaningful", pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said this morning.

Jose Baselga, executive vice president, oncology R&D at AstraZeneca, said: "These unprecedented results raise new hope for patients that have seen little progress over a long period of time."

"From as early as six months after initiation, more than twice as many patients taking Lynparza lived without progression of their disease compared to those on placebo and we are now working with regulatory authorities to bring Lynparza to patients as quickly as possible."
(snip)

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Good news since pancreatic cancer is one of the worst

Jimmy Carter has been watched very carefully since first his Dad, then all three of his siblings, died of pancreatic cancer. Billy was only 51.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. My stepfather died from it-- fast and deadly with no treatment at...

the time.

Now there is hope that treatment is on the horizon, and future victims might be spared.

[nitpicker]

3. More from MarketWatch

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/astrazeneca-lynparza-trial-results-unprecedented-2019-06-03-24855857?mod=newsviewer_click

AstraZeneca Lynparza trial results 'unprecedented'

Published: June 3, 2019 2:58 a.m. ET

By
Oliver Griffin

AstraZeneca PLC (AZN.LN) on Monday said phase 3 results from a trial of its Lynparza cancer treatment, developed with Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK), demonstrated that the drug nearly doubled the time patients lived without disease progression.

The British pharmaceutical company said the POLO trial of Lynparza for patients with pancreatic cancer showed that 22% of remained free of disease progression after two years, compared with just 10% on a placebo.

AstraZeneca said Lynparza is now the first PARP inhibitor--a key type of cancer treatment--to demonstrate benefit in three different cancer types.
(snip)

[jmowreader]

4. I found another article about this drug

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/embargoed-til-sunday-6-2-at-730-am-et-az-merck-s-lynparza-nearly-halves-pancreatic-cancer

At the one-year mark, Lynparza had kept cancer at bay for 34% of patients versus placebo’s 15%. And at the two-year mark, Lynparza continued the trend, staving off progression in more than twice as many patients as placebo did—at 22% and 10%, respectively.

The results are “very exciting” considering “we are now able to offer a chemo-free option in maintenance to patients who for over a decade haven’t had any meaningful improvement,” Dave Fredrickson, executive vice president and global head of AstraZeneca’s oncology business unit, said.

I did some looking...according to this product's Wiki page, this was originally invented as an ovarian cancer treatment. It works against cancer in people with mutations in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which work to give you BReast CAncer...hence the name. They recently learned that some pancreatic cancers are initiated by those genes, so they tried this drug and it worked.

Oh...just so you know, Lynparza is $14,000 per month and it's a biologic so it isn't going to get any cheaper.

[Scarsdale]

5. Excuse me for being cynical, but

how long before they decide how high the price will be before releasing it to market? Whatever the market will bear, I imagine. In the UK and other developed countries, it will be reasonably priced because of the NHS. Here in "the greatest country in the world" it will be so overpriced, many will not be able to afford it without mortgaging their homes. Sorry, just being honest.