Pfizer is testing the drug that improves the lives of cancer patients
2024-09-17 09:31:52
TiranaPost
An experimental drug could be the solution that would completely change the image that immediately comes to mind when you think of someone suffering from cancer.
Loss of weight, muscles, fatigue, lack of desire to eat all this together, is called cancer cachexia.
According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer cachexia is currently defined as a loss of 5% or more of body weight over the past six months in cancer patients, along with symptoms such as fatigue.
This condition is life-threatening and is often seen as a contributor to cancer therapy failure. Many patients do not even have the strength to take the treatments, due to weakness and weight loss every day.
This medication aims to do just that. Increasing energy, preserving muscle and body mass to enable coping with cancer therapies, and of course hopes that through this it will also increase the life expectancy of patients.
Patients with the condition who received Pfizer's treatment saw improvements in body weight, muscle mass, quality of life and physical function. The results could pave the way for the drug, a monoclonal antibody called ponsegromab, to become the first treatment approved in the US specifically for cancer cachexia.
The condition affects about 9 million people worldwide, and 80% of cancer patients who suffer from it are expected to die within a year of diagnosis, according to Pfizer.
The company presented the data on Saturday at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2024, a cancer research conference held in Barcelona, Spain. The results were also published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The phase two trial followed 187 people with non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer or colorectal cancer and high levels of a key driver of cachexia called growth differentiation factor 15, or GDF-15. It is a protein that binds to a certain receptor in the brain and has an impact on appetite.
After 12 weeks, patients who received the highest dose of ponsegromab — 400 milligrams — saw a 5.6% increase in weight compared to those who received a placebo. Patients who received a dose of 200 milligrams or 100 milligrams of the drug saw an increase of approximately 3.5% and 2% in body weight, respectively, compared to the placebo group.
Pfizer said the drug had no significant side effects.
