Asco – Damp Squibs Mean Lilly has it all to do
Jacob Plieth of EP Vantage reports that after an Asco meeting seen as being mainly about Big Pharma, one large company risks standing out as especially underwhelming: Eli Lilly.
Even one of its few recent successes, the anti-VEGF antibody ramucirumab, looks unconvincing after the unveiling of full data from its Revel study in second-line non-small cell lung cancer. This, as well as the meagre benefits of its Erbitux successor, necitumumab, mean that the company must focus on the benefits of these projects in hard-to-treat patients.
Ramu is approved for stomach cancer under the brand name Cyramza, and failed last year in breast cancer – an indication that had been viewed as a relatively safe bet. But success in NSCLC was heralded as a major win when the phase III Revel study was toplined in February, hitting statistical significance in the primary endpoint of median progression-free survival (Lilly revels in ramu lung cancer win, 19 February 2014).
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