Prescription Drug Outlook Improves For Patients with Advanced Skin Cancer
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Prescription Drug News - Roche, the world’s largest biotech company, has announced success in a Phase III clinical study of RG7204 (PLX4032), which will provide more options for patients with advanced metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive and deadliest form of skin cancer. Patients suffering from this condition are usually diagnosed with an extremely short life expectancy (maximum is generally 12 months from diagnosis), with an estimated 40,000 deaths taking place annually across the globe as a result of the disease. Participants who were treated with the drug during its clinical study enjoyed both a longer life and progression-free period than those who received the current preferred prescriptions drug list option, dacarbazine.
RG7204 (PLX4032) Broadens Prescription Drug Treatment Options
According to Dr. Hal Barron, Roche’s Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Development, “This is an important advance for people with the BRAF V600 mutation-positive form of the disease who have had extremely limited treatment options.” Based on the study phase results, control patients from the study – those who received dacarbazine infusions – will have the option to switch over to receive RG7204. It should be noted that this study, and the development of RG7204 by Roche, demonstrates the company’s personalized treatment approach in the use of biomarkers and diagnostic tools to develop the best medicines prescription for the individual patient.
The most common side effects of the medication were joint pain, rash, hair loss, photosensitivity and fatigue. The most frequent grade three (severe) side effects were skin related and included cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, which can usually be treated with a local excision. Full data on the development of this prescription drug will be presented in medical meeting format later this year.
