2011 Medical News ASCO: Abagovomab No Help in Ovarian Cancer - in Meeting Coverage, ASCO from MedPage Today

Medical News: ASCO: Abagovomab No Help in Ovarian Cancer - in Meeting Coverage, ASCO from MedPage Today


"Abagovomab maintenance treatment after debulking surgery and successful platinum and taxane first-line chemotherapy did not prolong progression-free survival in advanced ovarian cancer," he said in a late-breaker report given during a packed plenary session.

The invited discussant for the MIMOSA trial, George Coukos, MD, PhD, professor of gynecologic oncology at the University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, suggested that the target of abagovomab – the CA-125 receptor – may not be the best avenue to approach ovarian cancer recurrence.

"CA-125-targeted immunotherapy based on antibody approaches does not appear to be a useful clinical strategy," Coucos said. He noted that oregovomab -- a cousin of abagovomab – also failed to produce positive results in ovarian cancer.

Abagovomab Does Not Prolong Progression-Free Survival in Advanced Ovarian Cancer (Mimosa trial)

 WHAT IS THE MIMOSA TRIAL?
MIMOSA is a demanding multinational trial started in December 2006 with a 9 years of duration. About 900 patients with advanced ovarian cancer who have had an optimal response to the initial treatment (surgery + chemotherapy) have been included in the study with the aim to test the efficacy and safety of the vaccination with Abagovomab for the prevention or the delay of disease’s recurrences. The first results will be available at the end of 2010.

summary: Abagovomab: an anti-idiotypic CA-125 targeted immunotherapeutic agent for ovarian cancer phase 111 MIMOSA trial

Abagovomab: an anti-idiotypic CA-125 targeted immunotherapeutic agent for ovarian cancer

Rachel N Grisham​‌¹, Jonathan Berek​‌², Jacobus Pfisterer​‌³ & Paul Sabbatini​‌^†1

Ovarian cancer remains the leading cause of death due to gynecologic malignancies. Most patients present with advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Although many have a good initial response to surgical debulking and platinum-based chemotherapy, relapse is common, with the eventual development of chemotherapy resistance. Innovative treatments are needed in the remission setting to prolong the disease-free interval or prevent recurrence. Abagovomab is a murine monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibody (molecular wieght: 165–175 kDa) that functionally imitates the tumor-associated antigen, CA-125. It has been shown to be well tolerated and to induce a sustained immune response in initial Phase I and II clinical trials. An ongoing, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, Phase III trial (MIMOSA) completed its double-blind period in December 2010 and will compare abagovomab maintenance therapy to placebo, which will definitively determine the efficacy of this immunotherapeutic approach in patients with ovarian cancer.

Drug Watch a heads-up on pharmaceuticals in late-stage development

New drugs Product type/proposed indication FDA status/notes

abagovomab
Menarini Group
an anti-idiotype antibody, able to mimic a tumor antigen
highly expressed by ovarian cancer cells/used to prevent
or delay the tumor relapse in patients whose disease
responded to the first-line chemotherapy by activating
an immune response toward cancer cells
phase 2/3

karenitecin/BNP1350
BioNumerick Pharmecuticals
in the camptothecin class of chemotherapy drugs/
treatment of advanced ovarian cancer
phase 3

pazopanib (Votrient)
GlaxoSmithKline
multi-kinase angiogenesis inhibitor/maintenance therapy
for the treatment of ovarian cancer
phase 3
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