Lilly's Cyramza combo boasts strong results in bladder cancer

Eli Lilly has announced new Phase 3 data at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2017 Congress which further add to the efficacy profile of Cyramza (ramucirumab) in treating platinum-refractory advanced urothelial carcinoma when used in combination with docetaxel.

The findings of the RANGE study showed that, when used in combination with docetaxel, Cyramza produced a median progression-free survival rate of 4.1 months compared to 2.8 months in the placebo arm of the study – an improvement of 46%. In addition, the drug produced a 24% reduction in disease progression or death, and an objective response rate of 24.5% compared to 14% in the placebo arm.

According to the company, the trial marks the sixth positive study of Cyramza and the first-ever Phase 3 project to demonstrate superior PFS over chemotherapy in a post-platinum setting in urothelial cancer.

"It's been an exciting and eventful time in urothelial carcinoma medicine research and development over the last several years, going from very few approved therapies to many new treatment options now available this year," explained the study’s lead researcher Daniel Petrylak, Professor of Medical Oncology and Urology at Yale Cancer Center. "However, many patients treated with these new therapies have progressive disease as best response, meaning that their cancer is still growing, spreading or getting worse. This is what is driving the clinical community to continue to investigate additional targets for treatments that can help quickly control disease progression."

He continued: "We are looking at ramucirumab in this way, as RANGE is the first Phase 3 study to show the benefit of targeting angiogenesis in urothelial cancer and the first therapy to show superior progression-free survival over chemotherapy in a post-platinum setting. This benefit also confirms the efficacy seen in the Phase 2 study."

Levi Garraway, Senior Vice President of Global Development and Medical Affairs at Lilly Oncology, added: "We are encouraged by these results from the RANGE study, as patients with this aggressive type of cancer who experience disease progression urgently need additional treatment options that can help stop or slow the cancer from growing and spreading. These RANGE data provide additional evidence in favour of combining Cyramza with other therapeutic backbones, which has now demonstrated an efficacy improvement in treating several types of aggressive metastatic cancers."