![]() Once it binds to PSMA on a cancer cell, “the whole molecule is internalized by the cell and the cell is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation” from lutetium-177, he said. Morris explained, PSMA-617 is extremely adept at finding and locking on to the PSMA protein on cells. The radioactive component is lutetium-177, which is being tested as a part of multiple radiopharmaceutical drugs.Īs Dr. In the case of Lu177-PSMA-617, the delivery vehicle is PSMA-617, a drug that latches onto a protein called PSMA that is often found at high levels on the surface of prostate cancer cells. Like a number of other radiopharmaceuticals, Lu177-PSMA-617 has two components: a drug that delivers the therapy to cancer cells and a radioactive particle. Lu177-PSMA-617 is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but Novartis, which manufactures the drug and funded the VISION trial, said that it plans to submit an approval application to the agency later this year. Taplin, who was an investigator on the trial, also said she was disappointed that adding Lu177-PSMA-617 to treatment only improved patient survival by several months. Mary-Ellen Taplin, M.D., who specializes in treating prostate cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, called VISION “a very positive trial” and said she believes there will be strong interest among patients and clinicians for Lu177-PSMA-617. Several other experts on treating prostate cancer agreed. The study’s findings support making Lu177-PSMA-617 a “new treatment option for this patient population,” said the trial’s lead investigator, Michael Morris, M.D., of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, during a press briefing at the ASCO meeting. The results from the trial, called VISION, were presented on June 6 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and published June 23 in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, the researchers reported that the most common side effects, such as fatigue and dry mouth, were rarely serious and that participants generally appeared to handle the side effects well. In addition, several deaths were attributed to treatment with the radiopharmaceutical. ![]() Treatment with Lu177-PSMA-617-one of an emerging group of cancer therapies called radiopharmaceuticals-did lead to more side effects. ![]() In the study, participants who received the drug, called Lu177- PSMA-617, along with other standard treatments lived longer than those who received only standard therapies: a median of 15.3 months versus 11.3 months. The trial included participants with a hard-to-treat form of advanced prostate cancer, called metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, that had gotten worse despite treatment with standard therapies. To be treated with Lu177-PSMA-617, patients must first have their cancer identified as PSMA-positive on PET scans that use gallium Ga 68 gozetotide or a similar PSMA-targeted tracer.Ī type of cancer therapy that delivers radiation directly to cancer cells may represent the newest advance in the treatment of prostate cancer, according to results from a large clinical trial. On the same date, FDA also approved gallium Ga 68 gozetotide (Locametz), a radioactive tracer that is used during PET scans to identify tumors that overproduce PSMA. The approval was based on the results of the VISION clinical trial, which are described in detail in the article below. Their cancer must also have progressed after standard treatments. The approval covers the use of Lu177-PSMA-617 in patients who have metastatic prostate cancer that is hormone-resistant (also known as castrate-resistant) and whose tumors overproduce the PSMA protein. UPDATE: On March 23, 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Lu177-PSMA-617 (Pluvicto) to treat some adults with metastatic prostate cancer. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |