Study shows efficacy of YONDELIS (trabectedin) in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma

In continuation of my update on trabectedin

PharmaMar announced that the European Journal of Cancer published online data from a large retrospective study with soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) patients carried out at 25 French centers confirming that in routine practice YONDELIS® (trabectedin) shows comparable or better clinical outcomes than those observed in clinical trials . The results add to previous evidence from other studies with trabectedin , including the compassionate expanded access program of 1895 patients with incurable disease , demonstrating that response and disease control rates are higher than expected. The authors describe that long-term treatment of multiple types of STS patients without progressive disease delayed progression and improved survival compared to those who stopped it after six cycles, as recently suggested in the T-DIS studyiii. In this routine real-life scenario, the median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 4.4 and 12.2 months, respectively after a median follow-up of 22 month. Of the 304 patients who achieved non-progressive disease after six cycles, 227 continued receiving trabectedin and obtained significant superior PFS (11.7 versus 7.6 months) and OS (24.9 versus 16.9 months) than those who did not. The recent study reinforces an approach of early administration of YONDELIS® (trabectedin) to optimize its efficacy as second-line treatment in patients that will probably benefit from this drug. Despite the limitations of the study, the investigators emphasize that this clinical strategy may achieve longer disease control without compromising the safety profile of the treatment, given that a third of the patients received more 6 or more cycles of the drug and were able to tolerate longer treatments.

Study shows efficacy of YONDELIS (trabectedin) in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma

Study expands understanding of the production of ET-743 compound

In continuation of my update on Trabectedin

For decades, scientists have known that ET-743, a compound extracted from a marine invertebrate called a mangrove tunicate, can kill cancer cells. The drug has been approved for use in patients in Europe and is in clinical trials in the U.S.

Scientists suspected the mangrove tunicate, which is a type of a sea squirt, doesn't actually make ET-743. But the precise origins of the drug, which is also known as trabectedin, were a mystery.

By analyzing the genome of the tunicate along with the microbes that live inside it using advanced sequencing techniques, researchers at the University of Michigan were able to isolate the genetic blueprint of the ET-743's producer--which turns out to be a type of bacteria called Candidatus Endoecteinascidia frumentensis.

The findings greatly expand understanding of the microbe and of how ET-743 is produced, the researchers reported online May 27 in the journal Environmental Microbiology. They're optimistic that the insights will help make it possible to culture the bacteria in the laboratory without its host.

"These symbiotic microbes have long been thought to be the true sources of many of the natural products that have been isolated from invertebrates in the ocean and on the land. But very little is known about them because we're not able to get most of them to grow in a laboratory setting," said study senior author David Sherman, the Hans W. Vahlteich Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the College of Pharmacy and a faculty member of the U-M Life Sciences Institute, where his lab is located.

"Currently, many of these compounds can only be harvested in small amounts from host animals, which is unsustainable from an economic and environmental perspective," said Michael Schofield, one of two first authors on the study and a member of the Sherman lab before she graduated from U-M this spring. "Our hope is that understanding the genomes of these micro-organisms and the chemical reactions that occur inside of them will provide new avenues to economical and sustainable production of the medicinal molecules they make."

ET-743 is currently made using a complicated, partially synthetic process.

"A major challenge of sequencing genomes from samples containing a mixture of different organisms is figuring out which DNA sequences go with which organisms. We used bioinformatic approaches that allowed us to tease that apart," said Sunit Jain, a bioinformatics specialist in the U-M Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and the study's other first author.

Study expands understanding of the production of ET-743 compound

Trabectedin for advanced soft tissue sarcoma....

Patients with a rare form of cancer called advanced soft tissue sarcoma could now benefit from a new drug called trabectedin, after the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) approved the drug for NHS use.The same drug was given orphan status for ovarian cancer & soft tissue sarcoma by USFDA. Hope patients suffering from soft tissue sarcoma will breathe a sigh of relief.

Research suggests that the drug may extend life by at least three months more than other NHS treatments and that it may therefore be beneficial for some of the 500 to 600 people in England and Wales with advanced soft tissue sarcoma.

Under the latest guidance, the drug is recommended as a treatment for people with advanced soft tissue sarcoma who have previously failed to respond to treatment with anthracyclines and ifosfamide, or who are unable to tolerate those treatments. More...