Erbitux ‘now standard of care’ in KRAS patients
pharmafile | June 3, 2010 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Erbitux, Merck Serono
A new survey suggests Merck Serono’s Erbitux has become a standard of care for KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer
The research sought to evaluate KRAS testing among doctors in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and was published at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.
The KRAS biomarker is used to identify tumour type, allowing the best treatment for individual colorectal cancer patients to be chosen.
The survey showed almost a quarter of physicians now always perform KRAS testing as a standard part of diagnosing metastatic colorectal cancer, with 42% of patients tested in early 2009.
This contrasts sharply with the figures from 2008, when just 2.5% of patients were tested, and suggests a dramatic change in practice.
Around 44% of mCRC patients with confirmed KRAS wild-type tmours received treatment with Erbitux last year – chiming with European Medicines Agency guidance which said the drug should be used with this patient group.
Erbitux (cetuximab) is a first-in-class IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor.
It is also a major revenue stream for Merck, with sales up 19% to 192 million euros in the first quarter of this year, following a particularly strong performance in Japan and Europe.
The manufacturer suggests there is a “growing bank of evidence supporting the use of KRAS testing and Erbitux in the treatment of the disease”.
That is reflected in the “significant steps that physicians have already taken to incorporate the test into their treatment practices”, said Wolfgang Wein, Merck Serono’s executive vice president, oncology.
Work from the CRYSTAL study, presented at ASCO, reinforces the drug’s overall survival benefit when used in combination with standard chemotherapy FOLFIRI.
Wein added that the latest data for Erbitux demonstrates that KRAS testing should be a standard diagnostic tool for the disease.
This would mean “patients have access to personalised therapies that could provide them with the best survival benefits”, he concluded.
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