Despite treatment, women with ovarian cancer still have low survival rates and the cancer is likely to recur. There may be hope for women whose cancer has returned after chemotherapy.
The drug, called upifitamab rilsodotin, is an antibody-drug conjugate, a class of drugs designed as targeted therapies for disease treatment. Upifitamab rilsodotin acts like a Trojan horse, invading ovarian cancer cells and treating them to destroy the cancer. It has been successfully used to treat other types of cancer.
“Imagine a cancer cell as a circle.” Those bumps become the antigens, and in patients who have this particular antigen on their ovarian cancer cells, the drug binds to that antigen, and it basically tricks the cells into binding them, and when you do that, , releasing a drug payload into the cell that kills it.”
Ovarian cancer has a reputation as a ‘silent killer’. This is because symptoms appear only in the advanced stages of the disease and are largely incurable. Despite therapeutic interventions such as chemotherapy, the disease has a poor survival rate and is prone to recurrence.According to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, approximately 70% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will recur.
“We’ve made great strides in improving treatment, but the overall survival rate for ovarian cancer is still only about 45%,” Jackson said.
Phase 3 trials will test the safety and efficacy of new treatments compared to standard treatments using two patient groups. For example, Phase 3 trials can determine which patient groups have better survival rates and fewer side effects.
The UP-NEXT trial is a multicenter, randomized trial that hopes to enroll 350 patients across all sites. You will receive either upifitamab rilsodotin or placebo.
“This drug is considered a maintenance drug,” Jackson said. “We’re looking at how well this drug works and whether it changes results. Specifically, how long it keeps the cancer at bay without it coming back. We are investigating whether it is possible to
The trial is for patients whose ovarian cancer has recurred after treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy drugs. Platinum-based drugs such as cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin are widely used to treat cancer. However, their clinical application may be limited by side effects such as toxicity and drug resistance.
Women whose cancer recurs within 6 months of platinum-based chemotherapy are considered platinum-resistant. Patients are considered platinum-sensitive if they have been post-chemotherapy for at least 6 months.
Platinum-resistant ovarian cancer tends to be less responsive to chemotherapy. However, given that upifitamab rilsodotin has already shown positive results in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients, the UP-NEXT trial is testing the drug’s efficacy in platinum-sensitive patients.
“We usually start with the platinum-resistant group. If we can prove that platinum-resistant patients can benefit from this drug, we will move it further up the list to see if we get a better impact.” ‘ said Jackson. “This is the only study of ours that is sensitive to platinum. We are really excited when we get our hands on a drug of this level. It will very likely change the way patients are treated in the future.” It’s from.”
The discovery of BRCA gene mutations and their association with cancer has provided breakthroughs in the treatment of ovarian cancer. However, not many trials have focused on women without BRCA mutations. Therefore, the importance of the UP-NEXT trial is:
“This study is very important because it offers a unique treatment opportunity for patients who have little access to clinical trials,” Jackson said. We are excited about the opportunity to introduce a new maintenance agent that is potent.”
Source: University of Cincinnati
