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news.Amgen and Abgenix have initiated a phase III clinical study to evaluate the potential benefits of adding panitumumab to Genentech's Avastin and either Sanofi-Aventis' Eloxatin or Pfizer's Camptosar in colorectal cancer.
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The clinical trial, called PACCE, is a randomized, multi-center, open-label study, with endpoints of progression-free survival, overall survival and response rate. Enrollment of approximately 1,000 patients is already underway.
“We are delighted with the initiation of this important clinical trial to further explore the potential for our lead product, panitumumab, in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer,” said Bill Ringo, president and CEO at Abgenix. “This study is a key step in the overall clinical program for panitumumab, which we expect to be evaluated with various chemotherapy agents and targeted therapies across multiple tumor types.”
Panitumumab inhibits the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr), while bevacizumab (Avastin) targets the vascular endothelial growth factor involved in angiogenesis. Although EGFr normally helps regulate the growth of many different cells in the body, EGFr can also stimulate cancer cells to grow. In fact, many cancer cells actually require signals mediated by EGFr for their survival.
Panitumumab binds to EGFr, preventing epidermal growth factor (EGF) and TGF transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) from binding to the receptor and interfering with the signals that would otherwise stimulate growth of the cancer cell and allow it to survive.