Amgen said Sunday that patients with advanced lung cancer who were given its drug to block a protein called KRAS lived for a median of six months without their tumors worsening. That’s a measure of response durability that experts say could be strong enough to secure the drug’s approval — if replicated in a larger clinical trial that will read out later this year.
But the Amgen drug, a pill called sotorasib (formerly known as AMG 510) showed partial tumor shrinkage in just over one-third of the lung cancer patients enrolled in the trial. That’s down from a 50% partial response rate reported last year in the same study.
Unlock this article by subscribing to STAT Plus and enjoy your first 30 days free!
GET STARTEDWhat is it?
STAT Plus is STAT's premium subscription service for in-depth biotech, pharma, policy, and life science coverage and analysis. Our award-winning team covers news on Wall Street, policy developments in Washington, early science breakthroughs and clinical trial results, and health care disruption in Silicon Valley and beyond.
What's included?
- Daily reporting and analysis
- The most comprehensive industry coverage from a powerhouse team of reporters
- Subscriber-only newsletters
- Daily newsletters to brief you on the most important industry news of the day
- STAT+ Conversations
- Weekly opportunities to engage with our reporters and leading industry experts in live video conversations
- Exclusive industry events
- Premium access to subscriber-only networking events around the country
- The best reporters in the industry
- The most trusted and well-connected newsroom in the health care industry
- And much more
- Exclusive interviews with industry leaders, profiles, and premium tools, like our CRISPR Trackr.
About the Author Reprints
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma frequently has KRAS mutations, but I gather that they typically have a different mutation. It used to be thought that KRAS was “undruggable.” Maybe not. This sounds like a breakthrough.