Dive Brief:
- Patients with a certain type of hard-to-treat, metastatic colorectal cancer who were treated with Vectibix (panitumumab) had significantly better overall survival rates compared with best supportive care (BSC) patients.
- In the United States, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death.
- Vectibix is the first fully human anti-EGFR antibody approved by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).
Dive Insight:
Vectibix first received an indication for treatment of colorectal cancer in 2006, however, Amgen has continued to assess its use in various types of colorectal cancer, which is refractory to other types of treatments. In a phase III study, Vectibix was successful in increasing overall survival in patients with chemorefractory wild-type KRAS (exon 2) mCRC. Full results of the trial explicating precise survival times and outcomes will be updated in the near future.
Colorectal cancer affects 1.2 million people worldwide and is the third most common cancer in the world.