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"Nimotuzumab showed no skin toxicity and diarrhea and there was good patient compliance," Dr. Joo Hang Kim of Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, told Reuters Health by e-mail.

The experimental agent nimotuzumab, given in combination with radiotherapy, was well tolerated by patients with stages IIB-IV non-small cell lung cancer unable to undergo radical therapy or chemotherapy, in a phase I trial in Korea.

Nimotuzumab is a humanized anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody. The reason to use an EGFR inhibitor in this setting is that radiation rapidly upregulates EGFR expression on cancer cells, and EGFR expression is correlated with radiation resistance, Dr. Kim and colleagues say in a May 10th online paper in Lung Cancer.

In a phase 1 trial, the team randomized 15 patients to receive 100, 200 or 400 mg of nimotuzumab weekly for 8 weeks, along with palliative radiotherapy (30-36 Gy). Nimotuzumab was continued every 2 weeks for up to 18 months or until unacceptable toxicity or disease progression.

Seven patients achieved a partial response and two had stable disease. Inside the radiation field, the local response rate was 46.7% and the disease control rate was 100%.

The most common adverse events were lymphopenia (86.7%), asthenia (40%), and anorexia (33.3%). One patient developed a dose-limiting toxicity in the 200 mg group (a grade IV pneumonia with neutropenia that improved without ventilatory support).

"Nimotuzumab and radiotherapy combination therapy was found to be well tolerated and feasible," the investigators conclude. "Future clinical investigation of nimotuzumab is warranted in non-small cell lung cancer patients."

Source: Reuters Health