What
  • Allergology
  • Angiology & Vascular Surgeries
  • Cardiac Surgery
  • Cardiology
  • Dental Surgery
  • Dentistry
  • Dermatology
  • ENT
  • ENT & Head Neck Surgery
  • Family & Occupational Medicine
  • Family Physician
  • Gastroenterology
  • General Medicine
  • General Physician
  • Hair Implantation and Transplantation
  • Hospital Emergency Room
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Intensivist
  • Internal Medicine
  • Medical Nutrition
  • Obstetrics & Gynecology
  • Oncology
  • Oncology Urology
  • Optometry
  • Orthodontics
  • Orthopedic
  • Otolaryngologist
  • Paediatrics
  • Pediatric Cardiology
  • Pediatrics
  • Physiotherapy
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychology
  • Traumatology
  • Urology
Where

BLOG

MEDICAL PRESS

The Drug That Could Improve Small-cell Lung Cancer

A Spanish company has developed a pioneering drug that could treat small-cell lung cancer and advance the field of cancer research.

Despite the remarkable progress made in recent years, lung cancer is one that still has the most room for improvement. And within this, microcytic (i.e. small cell) cancer is the type with the fewest treatment options.

The good news is that there have been major advances in this field in recent years. And, what is more, this innovation has come from a Spanish laboratory: PharmaMar. This laboratory has developed the drug lurbinectedin. It inhibits the active transcription of protein-coding genes, causing tumour cell death and normalising the tumour microenvironment.

Research As A Tool In The Fight Against Small-cell Lung Cancer

At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in June 2019, the research group presented to the scientific community the results of the Phase II study, using this molecule as a single agent for the treatment of recurrent small-cell lung cancer. The study met its primary endpoint, achieving an overall response rate of 35.2%. This refers to the percentage of patients living a given time after diagnosis. It also yielded a median overall survival of 9.3 months. This would be the time during which the disease does not progress or worsen after treatment.

Looking Into Second-line Treatment: The Basket research

In August 2019, PharmaMar agreed with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to file an application for registration of lurbinectedin under accelerated approval. This procedure allows for the submission of applications for the treatment of serious diseases that also meet a medical need. And the treatment of relapsed small-cell lung cancer had not changed substantially in more than two decades (since 1996).

In sum, the good results obtained and the lack of therapeutic options for patients with small-cell lung cancer led to the milestone. Its importance lies in the fact that it represented a remarkable unmet medical need. Therefore, lurbinectedin has become not only the company’s flagship product, but also a paradigm shift in the treatment of lung cancer.

There is no doubt that, as in other fields of medicine, research is the key to success.

MORE
PRESS

Open chat
1
Need help finding a doctor near you?
Hello, we are here to help you find your nearest doctor. Where are you located?