In the Phase I study, R1507 was administered by intravenous infusion. Nine of 34 adult patients with advanced solid tumors experienced disease stabilization. Four of the seven heavily pretreated patients with Ewing’s sarcoma demonstrated clinical benefit with two of these patients achieving durable, objective partial responses.
A weekly administration of R1507 was well tolerated with very few side effects. Treatment with R1507 was also not associated with the typical side-effects normally observed with cancer therapy.
Stephen Leong, assistant professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, said: “This drug attacks the IGF pathway and may provide a new class of drugs to treat a variety of cancers, including breast, prostate, colon, melanoma, myeloma and a variety of sarcomas, which could greatly add to the way that we currently treat these patients.”
Based on these initial results with R1507, Roche plans to conduct additional trials and work with a global consortium of sarcoma experts, including the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration (SARC).