Study: Erbitux prolongs cancer survival

CHICAGO (CNNMoney.com) -- The drug Erbitux prolongs survival in patients with advanced head and neck cancer by nearly three months, according to study results announced Saturday.

The study showed that Erbitux -- a drug that is produced by the biotech ImClone (Charts), as well as drug giants Bristol-Myers Squibb (Charts, Fortune 500) and German-based Merck KGaA -- prolonged life by an average of 2.7 months.

"The survival benefit is among the longest ever seen in a large clinical trial among these patients," said Dr. Jan Vermorken, oncology professor from the University of Antwerp in Belgium, in a prepared statement. The study results were unveiled at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)conference.

The study tracked 222 patients with metastatic head and neck cancer who took Erbitux with chemotherapy, and 220 patients who took chemo without Erbitux. The Erbitux patients survived an average of 10.1 months, compared to 7.4 months for patients taking chemo without the drug.

"I was hopeful for this study but I was also very skeptical," Vermorken said at a press conference Saturday morning. He noted that head and neck cancer is notoriously difficult to treat. But he said the study exceeded the goal of prolonging survival by two months.

The makers of Erbitux are trying to bolster the drug's market performance with studies demonstrating its strength as a cancer treatment, which could result in additional sales.

Erbitux, currently on the market as an FDA-approved treatment for some types of colorectal cancer as well as early-stage cancer of the head and neck, totaled $1.1 billion in 2006 sales.

"I think it's a positive first-line indication for Erbitux in what is a fairly prevalent cancer," said Joseph Tooley, analyst for A.G. Edwards. "They don't have an indication for metastatic head and neck cancer, so it could lead to further expansion of the label."

Some 40,000 Americans were diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2004, the most recent statistics available from the American Association for Cancer Research. Smoking accounts for about 85 percent of all cases, according to the National Institutes of Health, and alcohol is also a prime cause for the disease.

Erbitux has had a storied history. Disappointing data in the past have led to stock volatility at ImClone, as well as an insider trading scandal that landed former chief executive Sam Waksal - and domestic diva Martha Stewart - in jail.

More recently, ImClone said it failed an Erbitux study as a potential treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Erbitux is being closely watched at this year's ASCO, primarily because of study results that are expected Monday. At that time, researchers will unveil a study about the drug's ability to slow the growth of advanced colorectal cancer.

ASCO members have already received the results, and market talk of possible weak results caused ImClone's stock to slump in May, though it has partly recovered.

For now, the colorectal cancer market is dominated by Genentech's (Charts) Avastin, which is also a treatment for lung cancer. Avastin is Genentech's second-biggest seller, with $1.7 billion in 2006 sales, a 54 percent surge from the year before.

On Saturday, researchers unveiled the latest results in an ongoing Avastin study, in which tumors in lung cancer patients shrunk by at least 30 percent when the drug was combined with two types of chemotherapy: Gemzar, produced by Eli Lilly & Co (Charts, Fortune 500)., and a generic called cisplatin. Tumors shrank by 20 percent in chemo patients who did not take Avastin.

Dr. Christian Manegold, a medical professor at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and the lead researcher of the Avastin study, said the experiment confirms that Avastin adds to the effectiveness of standard chemo treatment.

Speaking at a press conference, Manegold said Avastin has "great potential" in changing the way lung cancer patients are treated.

In related news, researchers announced that Eli Lilly's experimental drug enzastaurin achieved "encouraging" results in a phase 2 study for lung cancer treatment. (Phase 2 is a relatively early stage that is years away from potential market entry.)

The study focused on 54 lung cancer patients who had tried other types of treatment that failed. Among these participants, the cancer was blocked from spreading for an average of 1.9 months. But after six months of treatment, the cancer was stopped from spreading in only 14 percent of the patients. Participants in the study survived an average of 9.9 months.

Lilly has started recruiting participants for a phase 3 study - the last trial stage before a drug is submitted to the Food and Drug Administration.

Researchers in the Erbitux study received funding from Merck and other drug companies, while Lilly and Roche contributed to the Avastin study.