Pemetrexed (Alimta ®), Lilly, chemotherapy agent with multiple indications of treatment at the most advanced stage of most common lung cancer

-Once the Commission deleted the obligation to use other oncolytic in the initial phase of treatment, pemetrexed expands its indications including 1 line, 2 line, change and continued maintenance.

-The Paramount study shows an increase of progression in patients with lung cancer-free survival not advanced non-squamous NSCLC who was administered pemetrexed combined with cisplatin as first line drugs, followed by pemetrexed as maintenance of continuation.

-The American Society of medical oncology considers this new scheme of treatment a remarkable breakthrough.

Spain, March 2012.- Pemetrexed (Alimta ®), of Lilly, longer be used for continuation maintenance therapy in patients with lung cancer no microcítico (CPNM) not advanced squamosal which have not shown a progression of the disease to the forefront with pemetrexed. In this context, patients whose disease has responded or stabilized with the frontline with pemetrexed combined with cisplatin therapy, can receive continued maintenance treatment with pemetrexed in monotherapy and additional profit.

This new indication has obtained the approval from regulatory agencies on the basis of the Paramount Studio, whose principal investigator is Dr. Luis Paz-Ares, head of the Oncology medical of the Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío in Sevilla, and the results published this month the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet Oncology.

Until now, there was no therapy of maintenance of continued ” in lung cancer non-small cell in which the used chemotherapy agent was one of the drugs previously administered in the first line. Maintenance in lung cancer therapies employed different agents on the front line and the maintenance phase. In this sense, according to Dr. Paz-Ares points out in his article in The Lancet Oncology, continuation maintenance therapy has a number of advantages over the maintenance of change: allows to know the tolerance to the drug since the beginning of the treatment; book other therapeutic options for the time in which the disease progresses; and to maximize the benefit of first-line treatment.

The Paramount Studio, an essay of phase III, double-blind, randomized, shows an improvement in the progression free survival (4.1 months in the Group of pemetrexed vs. 2.6 months in the placebo group), as well as a trend of improvement in overall survival. According to the preliminary results, collected in the technical specifications, patients with non-squamous NSCLC advanced frontline treated with pemetrexed (and cisplatin) immediately followed by treatment with pemetrexed in monotherapy in the maintenance phase have a survival of 13.9 months, about the 11.1 months for the placebo group.

Patients were given first line treatment standard with four cycles of pemetrexed (500 mg/m2) and cisplatin (75 mg/m2), with cycles of 21 days. 939 Patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC who were recruited and received induction therapy, 539 patients without tumor progression and with a good general State were then randomly allocated to receive one of the two maintenance treatments; either pemetrexed (500 mg/m2 the first day of a 21-day cycle) with the best support treatment (n = 359), either placebo with the best support treatment (n = 180) until disease progression. All patients received vitamin B12, folic acid and dexamethasone.

With this change the indication as maintenance therapy, pemetrexed can be used in patients with non-squamous NSCLC advanced, including the first and second lines, as well as maintenance therapy of continuation or change in patients whose disease has not progressed immediately following the initial a combination with a platinum-based chemotherapy. On the other hand, the use of pemetrexed is also indicated in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma irresecable and without prior chemotherapy.

On cancer of lung No Microcítico (CPNM)

In general, lung cancer is the most common form of cancer and the most lethal, causing 1.3 million deaths a year. 1 among the 85-90 percent of all lung tumors are not microcíticos2. The liver, bones and brain are potential targets for these cancer cells when they enter the bloodstream.

The NSCL encompasses a group of histologías or types of tumour are distinguished by its cellular structure. Non-squamous histology includes adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma, adding more than half of all diagnoses of CPNM3, as well as the qualified histologías as other ”.

About Lilly Oncology

For more than four decades, Lilly Oncology, a division of Lilly, is dedicated to presenting innovative solutions that improve the care of patients with cancer. Because there are no two equal cancer patients, Lilly Oncology is committed to the development of new approaches to treatment.

On Lilly

Lilly, a company based on innovation, is developing one growing portfolio of pharmaceutical products by applying the research more toe made both by its own laboratories worldwide and through collaborations with scientific organizations of presti-gio. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, Lilly provides answers to some of the needs more urgent médi-cas worldwide through the supply of medicines and information.

1 World Health Organization, Gender in Lung Cancer and Smoking Research, Department of Gender, Women and Health, 2003, http://www.who.int/gender/documents/en/lungcancerlow.pdf, (July 25, 2011).