GSK blood cancer drug nearly halves risk of death in late-stage trial
GSK blood cancer drug nearly halves risk of death in late-stage trial
(Reuters) - GSK's (GSK.L), opens new tab multiple myeloma drug Blenrep nearly halved the risk of disease progression or death compared to standard-of-care treatments for the incurable blood cancer, according to data from a late-stage study presented at a medical meeting on Sunday.
In the trial of 302 patients with relapsed or difficult-to-treat multiple myeloma, 71% of those who received Blenrep in combination with the steroid dexamethasone and pomalidomide were alive without their disease worsening at the end of a year.
That compared with progression-free survival (PFS) of 51% of those who were treated with pomalidomide, dexamethasone and bortezomib. Pomalidomide is a generic version of Bristol Myers Squibb's (BMY.N), opens new tab Pomalyst, while bortezomib is the generic of Takeda Pharmaceuticals' (4502.T), opens new tab Velcade.
"The ability to be able to offer a drug like Blenrep potentially that is administered on an outpatient basis, does not require hospitalization, can be available in a community setting and is not restricted by manufacturing challenges, like cell therapies, is really important," GSK oncology executive Hesham Abdullah said in an interview.
Detailed data from the trial was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago on Sunday.
Blenrep has had setbacks over the last couple of years, including being pulled from the lucrative U.S. market in 2022 after it failed to show superiority over an existing treatment in a separate late-stage study.
The top-line data from this trial released in March showing it had met the main goal of significantly improving PFS over a current standard treatment regimen appeared to signal a comeback for the drug.
