Amgen (AMGN) announced that new data from the phase II PEAK study and the phase III PRIME study were presented at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) gastrointestinal cancer symposium.
Both the studies are evaluating the first-line use of Vectibix in combination with an oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regimen, FOLFOX, in patients suffering from wild-type RAS (absence of exons 2, 3, or 4 KRAS or NRAS mutations) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).
Results from the PEAK study, which compared Vectibix plus FOLFOX treatment with Roche’s (RHHBY) Avastin plus FOLFOX, showed that a significantly higher proportion of patients in the Vectibix treatment group had earlier tumor shrinkage at week eight. Also, a significantly longer duration of response and greater depth of response were observed among the responding patients. However, overall response rates were similar in both the treatment groups.
Meanwhile, results from the PRIME study showed that there were no significant differences in quality of life among patients who were treated with the Vectibix and FOLFOX combination with those with FOLFOX alone.
Vectibix is already approved as a monotherapy for the treatment of patients with EGFR-expressing mCRC after the disease progressed following treatment with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-containing chemotherapy. The drug is also approved in combination with FOLFOX as a first-line treatment of patients suffering from wild-type KRAS (exon 2) mCRC. The FDA has approved Vectibix in combination with an oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy regimen, FOLFOX.
For the first nine months of 2014, Vectibix sales increased 32% to $119 million.
Amgen is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock. Some equally well-ranked stocks in the health care sector include Affymetrix Inc. (AFFX) and AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMAG).
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