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| |  Catumaxomab Increases Time Between Punctures for Draining Malignant Ascites: Presented at ASCO-GI By Ed Susman ORLANDO, FL -- January 28, 2008 -- The experimental monoclonal antibody catumaxomab appears to increase the time required for abdominal puncture to remove malignant ascites in patients with gastric cancers. Not only does catumaxomab slow the accumulation of fluids in the abdomen, it appears to also decrease the rate of tumor growth itself, increasing the time to progression, researchers reported here at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's 2008 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO-GI). The symposium is cosponsored by ASCO with the American Gastroenterology Association Institute, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the Society of Surgical Oncology. "The longer time to progression data suggest efficacy on the underlying tumor," said Simon Parsons, MD, Consultant, at Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, England, United Kingdom, in his poster presentation on January 26. "The results of this study demonstrate that treatment with catumaxomab administered as a sequence of four intraperitoneal infusions of 10 mcg, 20 mcg, 50 mcg, and 150 mcg resulted in a clear clinical benefit for epithelial cancer patients with symptomatic malignant ascites," Dr. Parsons said. Puncture-free survival -- time from the delivery of the drug to the need to perform a drainage procedure -- was 44 days for all gastric patients compared with 15 days for patients who did not receive the monoclonal antibody (P <.0001). Puncture-free time -- the time between punctures -- was 115 days for patients who received catumaxomab compared with 14 days for patients who did not receive the drug (P <.0001), Time to progression was 110 days with catumaxomab and 35 days for gastric cancer patients who did not receive the drug (P <.0001). Catumaxomab is a trifunctional antibody with three different binding sites. The binding arms are specific for epithelial cell adhesion molecule overexpressed on epithelial tumor cells and for the CD3 antigen expressed on T cells. The simultaneous binding appears to stimulate the immune system and increase tumor cell killing. The drug is being developed by Fresenius Biotech GmbH, Munich, Germany. Fresenius provided funding for the trial.
[Presentation title: Treatment of Epithelial Cancer Patients With Malignant Ascites Using Catumaxomab: Results of Non-Ovarian Stratum of a Phase II/III Study. Abstract 106]
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