GlaxoSmithKline plc recently announced positive results from an ongoing multiple myeloma study involving seriously ill patients.
“Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer in the United States and is generally considered treatable but not curable,” according to a company press release.
Known as GSK2857916, the treatment is an investigational anti-B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) antibody-drug conjugate, earning status as breakthrough therapy from the Food and Drug Administration, along with priority medicines status from the European Medicines Agency.
“The patients participating in the DREAMM-1 trial had very limited options for further treatment, so we are encouraged by the response rate seen in this trial,” Axel Hoos, GSK’s senior vice president for oncology research and development, said in the release. “GSK2857916 is the leading asset in our emerging pipeline of potentially transformative Oncology medicines and we plan to rapidly progress its development programme, initiating pivotal monotherapy studies as well as new combination studies in 2018.”
The two-part study is planned for administration to 80-95 subjects, with safety as the topmost priority, followed by response, tolerability and efficacy, the release said. The first phase is for dose escalation while the second is for dose expansion.
GSK presented news of the first phase’s success during the 59th annual American Society for Hematology (ASH) meeting in Atlanta.
