Pfizer Inc and German drug-maker Merck
KGaA said they had begun a late-stage trial of their immuno-oncology drug
avelumab in combination with standard treatment for ovarian cancer, Reuters
reported..
Avelumab is a so-called checkpoint
inhibitor, which works by taking the brakes off the immune system.
“The hope is that avelumab can change the natural history of the disease
and potentially take the survival rate beyond the current five-year estimate,”
Alise Reicin, a senior research executive at Merck KGaA said in a statement.
One group of patients in the Phase III study will receive avelumab in
combination with platinum-based chemotherapy, the current standard of care.
Others will receive chemotherapy alone, or avelumab a few weeks after receiving
chemotherapy.
Rival drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb
Co and Merck & Co are developing similar checkpoint inhibitors for a range
of cancers, but have not yet tested them alongside standard treatments in large
trials of patients with previously untreated ovarian cancer.
In one small early-stage study of Merck’s Keytruda, tumor shrinkage was
seen in 11.5 percent of patients with ovarian cancer, without significant
safety issues. Ovarian tumors shrank by 15 percent among patients taking
Bristol-Myers’ Opdivo in a small trial.
Two weeks ago, United States based Tesaro Inc said its experimental
ovarian cancer drug niraparib met the main goal of prolonging survival in
patients, without the disease worsening, in a late-stage trial, sending its
shares to a record high.
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