A few weeks ago, when the FDA changed the labeling on anti-EGFR drugs, Amgen was pretty enthusiastic about “avoiding unnecessary treatments in patients [with a specific genetic marker] who are unlikely to benefit” from Vectibix. Avoiding these patients leaves more reimbursement available for patients who would benefit from Amgen’s product.
Now Amgen has even better data to support its personalized approach to colorectal cancer treatment: their study of Vectibix as a first-line treatment tracked the KRAS genetic status of participants and showed “significantly prolonged progression-free survival” for the wt-KRAS group.
In patients with mutated KRAS, Vectibix wasn’t just “unnecessary,” it actually showed worse outcomes than the control group, meaning genetic testing of all colorectal cancer patients will be a top priority.
A second important note for companies thinking about companion diagnostics and personalized effectiveness is that the Amgen study was a prospective study that will support much more robust conclusions. H/T @ldtimmerman.
In contrast, recall that the CMS decision not to reimburse genetic testing for Warfarin dosing specifically cited the lack of prospective data on which to base a decision.
This new data from Amgen will:
- Drive tumor genotyping as a standard of care; and
- Help make the economic case for companion diagnostics.
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Q3 Is Looking Up for Biotech: Emdeon, Cumberland, Domain, LOM BioQuest, OETF « The Cross-Border Biotech Blog // August 12, 2009 at 5:49 pm |
[...] personalized medicine seeing increasing validation as a clinical strategy, genomics is going to be increasingly prominent. News this week from Helicos Biosciences that an [...]