Lilly presents new data in head and neck cancer – a difficult to treat cancer with poor survival rates
Source: www.prnewswire.com Author: press release Eli Lilly and Company announced today that its global Phase III trial evaluating Alimta® (pemetrexed for injection) in combination with cisplatin in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (SCCHN) did not meet its primary endpoint for overall survival. Data were presented for the first time today at the 35th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). The Phase III study, the largest trial conducted in SCCHN to date, evaluated Alimta in combination with cisplatin compared with placebo plus cisplatin given every three weeks in a total of 795 patients. The primary objective of the study was to determine overall survival. Patient quality of life was also assessed, in addition to several pre-planned sub-group analyses. The Alimta/cisplatin regimen showed a median overall survival of 7.3 months compared with 6.3 months with cisplatin alone, a result not considered a statistically significant improvement (p=0.082). There was no significant difference in the quality of life scores for patients treated with either ALIMTA/cisplatin or cisplatin alone (p=0.200). As a result, Lilly will not be submitting marketing authorization applications for Alimta in SCCHN with either the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the European Medicine Agency (EMA). "The fact that combination treatment with pemetrexed and cisplatin did not improve overall survival in this study is disappointing, although perhaps not surprising given how difficult it can be to effectively treat metastatic or locally advanced head and neck cancer," said the study's [...]