Bristol Myers Squibb Addresses Tumor Resistance, Microenvironment in Cancer Treatment
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is focusing on overcoming challenges related to tumor resistance and the tumor microenvironment in cancer treatment, particularly in areas like lung and kidney cancer, and melanoma. The company’s efforts come as the healthcare industry acknowledges the increasing complexity of long-term cancer therapies.
The Spanish National Health System (SNS) has approved funding for the use of two immunotherapies, Opdivo® (nivolumab) and Yervoy® (ipilimumab), for first-line treatment of non-squamous non-slight cell lung cancer in combination with chemotherapy for patients with PD-L1 expression levels below 50%, according to Farmacosalud.com. While responses to the combination therapy tend to be durable, some patients exhibit primary resistance, and others lose their response over time.
Researchers are now concentrating on “deepening the study of the mechanisms of resistance” to improve treatment outcomes for these patients, stated Dr. Luis Paz-Ares, president of the Spanish Association for Cancer Research (ASEICA) and head of the Medical Oncology Service at the 12 de Octubre University Hospital in Madrid.
Funding has also been approved for the use of nivolumab plus ipilimumab for first-line treatment of advanced kidney cancer with an intermediate to poor prognosis. Nivolumab has received the green light for adjuvant treatment of melanoma, administered after surgery to help prevent disease recurrence.
These developments follow a decade after the European approval of ipilimumab, the first immunotherapy to improve survival rates in melanoma. The immunotherapy strategy has since become a standard approach for certain severe tumors.
In a separate development presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress in 2017, research from the Spanish Group for Breast Cancer Research (GEICAM) demonstrated success with a recent three-drug combination in reducing the progression of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, as reported by iSanidad.com. The study involved adding dasatinib, marketed by BMS as ‘Sprycel’, to the first-line treatment of trastuzumab (Roche’s ‘Herceptin’) and paclitaxel chemotherapy.
Approximately 80% of patients achieved a response rate with the three-drug combination, a result described as “exceptional” by Alberto Ocaña, director of the Translational Oncology Laboratory at Albacete University Hospital, who led the research. The findings suggest that using a SRC kinase activity inhibitor like dasatinib can help prevent the tumor from developing resistance to anti-HER2 treatment.
“These are very positive data that allow us to talk about an important advance,” Ocaña said. “However, with the recent approval of other drugs such as pertuzumab and T-DM1, we must now study at what specific moment we should use this strategy and design a phase III clinical trial to demonstrate its efficacy compared to standard treatment.”
The increasing focus on overcoming resistance mechanisms reflects a broader trend in oncology, as tumors often develop resistance to targeted therapies over time, as noted in ElGlobalfarma.com. This underscores the require for continuous innovation and combination strategies to maintain treatment effectiveness.
