RE: Easy hold17 Jan 2024 11:45
From advfn-
A reminder -
From JT on LSE.
Here is a transcript of what Dr. Tap said at the science day about standard dox and what Dr. Coughlin said last week about ava6k.
(thanks to BMH on X for posting the videos -
https://twitter.com/BMHLTD/status/1736326494035603668
Dr. Tap: "[For standard dox], most likely we don't see remissions, remission means that we see the tumour melting away. We can often see responses, but meaningful responses are only in 15-20% of patients. I'd love to see that increase. That can help with palliation, that can help with surgical conversion. But sarcoma is really a disease that we need to continue to treat. So having a drug that we can use for a long periods of time is what then translates into improved overall outcomes, like overall survival. And this also comes into the quality of life aspect where if you are giving a patient a drug that is not affecting their quality of life for the long term. That becomes really important."
"[For standard dox] median progression free survival (PFS) in a first line setting is 6 months and overall survival is 19 months and the overall response rate is 18%. I highlight this because sarcomas are diseases that don't always shrink when we treat them. So I don't always look at the RECIST response rate [how much tumours have shrunk], we look for stability, [stopping them from growing] and that's what is meaningful for patients. So we need to think about that when we interpret data. But I also want to point out the median number of cycles was just 4.5 months, which is hitting that limit of 6 [allowed] cycles. And median PFS is only just a few months after that. Why? Because when you stop the drug [dox] patients progress. That is one of the major limitations of doxorubicin, that we can only give it for 6 cycles."
Dr. Coughlin last week:
Dox is limited to 6 cycles (or 18 weeks, 4.5 months) and that is because of the cumulative toxicity. So the benefit that we have here with ava6k is not just that we are shrinking tumours but those tumours are shrinking and staying in that shrinkage, we're stabilising the disease for a prolonged period of time that just can't be achieved with dox. And that's right there with that favourable safety profile. So the patients have strong disease stabilisation, responses that last for time, and they are not experiencing the really problematic toxicities that are associated with dox."
It's almost as if Avacta have cracked it..