The FDA’s Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee ( ODAC ) voted 10 to 3 in favor of recommending approval of Tarceva ( Erlotinib ) in combination with Gemcitabine for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer in patients who have not received previous chemotherapy.

Pancreatic cancer has the highest one-year mortality rate of any cancer.
The average life expectancy for a patient diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer is three to six months, according to The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network ( PanCAN ).

A multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III trial evaluating Tarceva in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.
The study randomized 569 patients to receive Gemcitabine plus concurrent Tarceva or Gemcitabine plus placebo; 521 patients were randomized to receive 100 mg/day of Tarceva or placebo, and 48 patients were randomized to receive 150 mg/day of Tarceva or placebo.

The ODAC review focused on the 100 mg/day cohort.

Compared to Gemcitabine plus placebo, those patients receiving Gemcitabine plus Tarceva 100 mg/day demonstrated a statistically significant ( 23 percent ) improvement in overall survival ( hazard ratio = 0.81, p = 0.028 ), which can also be referred to as a 19 percent reduction in the risk of death.
After one year, 23 percent of patients receiving Tarceva plus Gemcitabine were alive compared to 17 percent of patients receiving Gemcitabine plus placebo.
A statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival ( hazard ratio = 0.77; p = 0.006 ) was also demonstrated.
Although no difference in tumor response was observed ( 8.6 percent in patients receiving Tarceva plus Gemcitabine versus 7.9 percent in the Gemcitabine plus placebo arm ), the disease control rate ( complete response + partial response + stable disease ) was significantly improved ( 59 percent in patients receiving Tarceva plus Gemcitabine versus 49 percent in the Gemcitabine plus placebo arm, p = 0.036 ).
Rash and diarrhea were the principal Tarceva-related side effects seen in the study and were generally characterized as mild-to-moderate.

Safety findings were generally consistent with previous studies of Tarceva in both monotherapy and combination settings.
Rash was reported in 69 percent of patients who received Tarceva plus Gemcitabine and in 30 percent of patients who received Gemcitabine plus placebo.
Diarrhea was reported in 48 percent of patients who received Tarceva plus Gemcitabine and in 36 percent of patients who received Gemcitabine plus placebo.
Two percent of the patients discontinued Tarceva because of rash and two percent because of diarrhea.
Possible interstitial lung disease ( ILD ) was experienced in 2.3 percent of patients in the Tarceva plus Gemcitabine arm compared with 0.4 percent in the Gemcitabine plus placebo arm.
The incidence of serious ILD-like events in the Tarceva and Gemcitabine arm was higher than the 0.8 percent incidence reported for both the Tarceva monotherapy and placebo arms in the Tarceva pivotal study in advanced NSCLC.
The incidence of possible ILD from all clinical studies with Tarceva is 0.7 percent.

Tarceva target the human epidermal growth factor receptor 1 ( HER1 ) pathway, which is one of the factors critical to cell growth in a number of different cancer types.
HER1, also known as EGFR, is a component of the HER signaling pathway, which plays a role in the formation and growth of numerous cancers.
Tarceva is designed to inhibit the tyrosine kinase activity of the HER1 signaling pathway inside the cell, which may block tumor cell growth.

Source:

1) Osi Pharmaceuticals, 2005

2) FDA, 2005


XagenaMedicine2005