Picoplatin deserves "further investigation" as a second-line treatment for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), it has been suggested.

Poniard Pharmaceuticals tested the efficacy and safety of the drug on 401 patients with SCLC who were refractory or responsive to six months of first-line platinum-based treatment.

The results of the Phase 3 SPEAR trial revealed that using picoplatin alongside best supportive care (BSC) resulted in a 33 per cent lower risk of death than using BSC alone.

Overall survival, which was the primary endpoint of the study, reached a median of 20.6 weeks for the picoplatin treatment, compared with a figure of 19.7 weeks for the BSC method.

Although this target was not met - perhaps due to an imbalance in the use of post-study chemotherapy between the picoplatin and BSC alone arms - the findings were encouraging.

"Results from this important study show that picoplatin is an active compound, with a demonstrated survival benefit among patients where the use of post-study chemotherapy between treatment arms was balanced," said Dr Tudor Eliade Ciuleanu, from the Institute of Oncology at Cluj-Napoca in Romania.

"These data include a number of significant outcomes, including improved overall survival among those individuals who did not receive post-study chemotherapy, the study's principal confounding factor, and among early relapsing or platinum refractory patients, a clinically meaningful population."

Ronald Martell, Chief Executive of Poniard, welcomed the results of the trial and vowed to conduct further investigations into this "difficult to treat disease".

The findings were presented during an oral session at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology 2010 Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

Oncologists also believe that picoplatin could be used in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.

Source:

Poniard Announces Final Data from Phase 3 SPEAR Trial of Picoplatin in Small Cell Lung Cancer (05/06/10)

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