AMG706 continues testing as second line drug for Gleevec-resistant GIST patients

By Norman Scherzer

We were disappointed that no data was presented on the phase ll trial for AMG706. Now entering its second year, AMG706 is being tested as a second line drug for GIST patients resistant to Gleevec. A number of Life Raft Group GIST patients continue in this trial and report positive responses to this drug.

At our meetings with AMGEN at American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) we were impressed with their continuing interest in AMG706 for GIST patients. A practical dilemma for this company is that clinical trials for another second line drug for GIST patients resistant to Gleevec, Pfizer’s drug Sutent, are far ahead of those for AMG706 and, in fact, Sutent has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for GIST treatment. That raises tactical issues for AMGEN and practical questions for the GIST patient community. The lack of a clinical trial with two treatment arms (in this case Sutent versus AMG706) makes it difficult to compare the efficacy and side effects of these two drugs. This is a common problem when two drugs are made by two different pharmaceutical companies.

AMGEN will need to decide whether it can compete with Pfizer in producing another second line drug for GIST or whether it can compete with Novartis in producing another first line drug by going head to head with AMG706 versus Gleevec in a clinical trial. GIST patients will need to decide how they can survive in the interim.