FDA Approves Abraxane for Treating Lung Cancer

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Celgene Corporation’s Abraxane paclitaxel protein-bound particles to be used in combination with carboplatin for treating locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer among patients who do not respond to curative surgery or radiation therapy.

Abraxane was first approved in 2005 for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer after failure of combination chemotherapy.

Lung Cancer - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention
Lung cancer is a malignant tumor in the lung tissues. Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer with symptoms like recurrent respiratory diseases.

"Non-small cell is the most common type of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in the United States," said Mark A. Socinski, MD, Director, Lung Cancer Section, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pittsburgh, and lead investigator of Abraxane phase II and phase III lung cancer trials.

"The FDA approval of Abraxane is exciting for healthcare professionals because it offers an important new treatment option for all types of non-small cell lung cancer patients, in an area that has seen few treatment advancements in recent years," Socinski added.

The approval is based upon the results of CA-031, a phase III, multi-center, randomized open-label study where patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) received either Abraxane (100mg/m2) weekly plus carboplatin (AUC=6) every three weeks (nR1) or paclitaxel (200mg/m2) every three weeks plus carboplatin (AUC=6) (nS1).

Lung Cancer Screening - FAQs
Lung cancer accounts for nearly 1.3 million deaths annually worldwide. Lung cancer screening can help in early detection of cancer and possible cure.

"The study met its primary end-point demonstrating astatistically significantly higher overall response rate for patients in the Abraxane arm compared to those in the paclitaxel arm (33 percent vs 25 percent)."

In the phase III study, Abraxane demonstrated a higher overall response rate as compared to paclitaxel for squamous cell carcinoma (41 percent vs 24 percent) and large cell carcinoma (33 percent vs 15 percent). Abraxane achieved a similar overall response rate to paclitaxel in patients with carcinoma/adenocarcinoma (26 percent vs 27 percent).

Lung Biopsy - Indications - Procedures - Risks - FAQs - Reference
The procedure by which tissue samples are obtained from the lung is known as lung biopsy. The biopsy tissues obtained from the lungs are examined by a pathologist.

The most common adverse reactions (20 percent) of Abraxane in combination with carboplatin for NSCLC are anemia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, alopecia, peripheral neuropathy, nausea, and fatigue.

Additional regulatory submissions have been filed in Japan, Australia and New Zealand with anticipated decisions in 2013.

Source-IANS