(Corrects to remove reference to Novartis' ceritinib inparagraph 7, which is not in the trial)
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO, June 1 (Reuters) - The National Cancer Institute inJuly will start enrolling patients in a clinical trial seekingto match the underlying genetic defect driving a person's tumorwith one or more of 20 approved or experimental drugs targetingthat gene.
The announcement, made at the American Society for ClinicalOncology meeting on Monday, is meant to use approved orexperimental drugs to develop insights that will ultimatelyenable doctors to prescribe drugs based on the molecular causeof the cancer, rather than the organ in which it was originallydiscovered.
Overall, trial investigators plan to sequence the DNA ofabout 3,000 patients nationwide during the full course of thetrial, known as NCI-MATCH. Of those, they plan to enroll about1,000 patients in the various drug treatment arms in the trial.
"What we're trying to do is sequence their tumor for variouscancer drivers," said Dr. Barbara Conley, associate director ofthe NCI's Cancer Diagnosis Program. "If they have that driver,they will be able to get the drug that was chosen to attack thatdriver."
Patients will be treated as long as their tumor shrinks orremains stable.
Drugs being used in NCI-MATCH include both approved and experimental agents that are being contributed by a number ofcompanies.
Initial agents in the trial will include Pfizer Inc's lung cancer drug crizotinib, sold as Xalkori; BoehringerIngelheim's afatinib, sold as Gilotrif, Roche's TDM1drug Kadcyla and two investigational drugs: AstraZeneca's AZD9291, a drug being tested in non-small cell lungcancer, and Verastem's VS-6063 or defactinib, a drugbeing tested in mesothelioma.
Enrollment in NCI-MATCH will be available through 2,400sites participating in the National Clinical Trials Network.
Separately, ASCO said a trial called TAPUR would helppatients gain access to new drugs based on the genetic makeup oftheir tumors.
It said TAPUR will provide 13 approved treatments for free.Drug companies providing treatments include: AstraZeneca,Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Co,Roche's Genentech and Pfizer.
Genetic profiling gives doctors a read-out of moleculartargets driving a patient's tumors. Often these occur inlocations other than the organ in which a drug is approved.While doctors can prescribe approved drugs off-label, insurancecompanies are reluctant to pay for them.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by W Simon andChristian Plumb)
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