Good Information about Laptinib (Tykerb) from GSK:
A new experimental cancer drug called Tykerb has been shown to slow the progression of metastatic Her-2 positive breast cancer after Herceptin treatment has stopped working in patients, according to researchers from GlaxoSmithKline at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting last June in Atlanta. "Tykerb works like a Trojan horse; it gets inside the cancer cells and blocks growth pathways," says Steven Stein, M.D., director of clinical development at GSK's oncology medicine development center.
Tykerb is the first targeted therapy that has the potential to reach the brain in order to treat brain metastases, which affect one-third of Her-2 positive women. Results from a trial show that women being treated with Herceptin supplemented with Tykerb experienced up to a 30 percent decline in the size of their brain tumors.
The researchers believe that the small molecular size of Tykerb allows the drug to cross the blood-brain barrier, which controls the passage of substances between the blood and the central nervous system. This enables the drug to reach sites of metastases that drugs with larger molecules, like Herceptin, cannot. Tykerb also shows potential in treating inflammatory breast cancer.
A study of about 60 IBC patients, half of whom were Her-2 positive, found that Tykerb slowed cancer progression in 62 percent of women in the Her-2 positive group, according to results presented by GSK at the ASCO conference. While these preliminary results are promising, Tykerb is still an experimental drug and is not available for use outside of clinical trials. If the FDA approves it, Tykerb may be available to patients early in 2007, says Stein.
From www.mamm.com
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