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| |  New Treatment Relieves Bone Pain Caused By Advanced Cancer N. BILLERICA, Mass., May 21, 1997-- Beginning today, a new treatment is available to relieve the severe and debilitating pain often associated with advanced prostate and breast cancer that has spread to the bone. Cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 1997, and now available to physicians nationwide, Quadramet(R) (Samarium Sm 153 Lexidronam Injection), relieves cancer bone pain at its source. Figures from the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute suggest that each year more than 200,000 cancer patients experience the severe and debilitating pain associated with bone metastases -- the spread of multiple cancerous bone lesions throughout the body. Such patients often survive for longer periods of time than patients with soft tissue involvement and therefore face prolonged periods of severe pain. Quadramet, from DuPont Merck Radiopharmaceuticals, fills the urgent need for effective relief during one of the most painful stages in the progression of cancer. Clinical studies show that Quadramet targets the sites of new bone formation, concentrating in regions of the bone that have been invaded with metastatic tumor. The drug goes to the source of cancer bone pain and irradiates the osteoblastic tumor sites resulting in relief of pain. The onset of pain relief was experienced as early as one week in the majority of patients. "Quadramet is a markedly different cancer pain therapy that offers physicians a much needed new option for managing cancer bone pain," said Oliver Sartor, MD, medical oncologist at Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport and an investigator in clinical studies of the new therapy. A Much-Needed Alternative Few people realize that the existing arsenal of standard therapies -- including opioids, such as morphine, and external radiation therapy -- are often inadequate for the long-term management of cancer bone pain when cancer has metastasized to the bone. Analgesics alone are rarely adequate or appropriate for long-term control and management of pain from metastasized bone lesions. Continued use of opioids is associated with a level of sedation that can severely impair a patient's activities of daily living. External "spot" radiation therapy can successfully control pain from isolated metastatic bone lesions, but once patients develop multiple lesions they may require a course of multiple treatments that significantly increase the risk of toxicity. Quadramet may relieve the pain caused by multiple osteoblastic lesions with a single injection. "Pain management has emerged as a top concern of prostate cancer patients with metastatic disease, according to feedback from our extensive patient support group network," said Thomas M. Bruckman, executive director and chief executive officer of the American Foundation for Urologic Disease. "They will be delighted that this new bone pain treatment option is now available." Effective Pain Relief Quadramet is administered by a single intravenous injection on an outpatient basis. Patients who respond to the drug may begin to notice pain relief one week after injection. Pain relief reaches a maximum at three to four weeks after injection, and patients may be encouraged to decrease their use of opioid analgesics. "Cancer patients and their physicians have limited options for dealing with the chronic bone pain that can accompany metastatic cancer," said Amy Langer, executive director of the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations (NABCO), the leading non-profit information and education resource on breast cancer. "Quadramet represents an important advance by increasing patient options for managing pain." Quadramet is manufactured and marketed in the US by the Radiopharmaceuticals Division of The DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company under the DuPont Pharma name through an exclusive license from Cytogen Corporation. Cytogen developed the agent under a license from The Dow Chemical Company. The DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company is a worldwide, research-based pharmaceutical and radiopharmaceutical company established in 1991 as a partnership between DuPont and Merck & Co. The company is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware; the Radiopharmaceuticals Division is headquartered in North Billerica, Massachusetts. Cytogen is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development, manufacture and commercialization of products for the targeted delivery of diagnostics and therapeutic substances directly to the disease sites.
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