Phase III study findings published in the current issue of The Lancet show that AstraZeneca’s Iressa (gefitinib) demonstrated non-inferior survival compared with sanofi-aventis’ Taxotere (docetaxel) in patients with pre-treated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Lead author Edward Kim commented that “the study is the first time in lung cancer that an oral biological agent has been tested head-to-head against chemotherapy.”

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In the INTEREST study, 1466 patients were randomly assigned either Iressa, given orally once-daily, or Taxotere, administered intravenously every three weeks. Results showed that patients who took Iressa experienced median survival of about 7.6 months, versus 8 months in the Taxotere group. Moreover, after one year, 32 percent of Iressa patients were still alive, compared with 34 percent of those in the comparison group.

In an accompanying commentary, Michael Cullen, of University Hospital Birmingham, noted that Iressa has decreased toxicity compared with chemotherapy and is also available in a convenient formulation. “I think there will be patients for whom it will be favoured,” he noted.

Source: FirstWord

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