Alimta Improves Life of Lung Cancer Patients

A new version of an old class of chemotherapy drugs offers a better quality of life than the standard medication used for patients with recurrent lung cancer, researchers say.

Alimta will likely benefit many non-small cell lung cancer patients because the majority of the 174,000 Americans diagnosed with the disease each year experience a recurrence, says Roy Herbst, M.D., chief of Thoracic Oncology at M. D. Anderson.

"Lung cancer is a very devastating disease and the therapies can be hard on patients," Herbst says. "While this new drug does not seem to increase survival at this late stage compared to the current standards, patients have far fewer side effects."

Nationwide trial finds advantages over standard

Herbst and his M. D. Anderson colleagues took part in a nationwide clinical trial that led to the Aug. 19 approval of Alimta by the Food and Drug Administration. Under the direction of Frank Fossella, M.D., professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology, the group tested the drug in 20 patients and found it offered significant benefits.

The trial compared Alimta withTaxotere, the current standard therapy for recurrent non-small cell lung cancer, and found that patients taking Alimta had fewer alternations in their blood counts and fewer side effects than those taking Taxotere. Side effects from Taxotere include myelosuppression, anemia, fatigue, anorexia and infection.

In fact, researchers found that only one in 50 patients taking Alimta had significant side effects, and that it can reduce tumor size as well as Taxotere.

Herbst says Alimta, already used for mesothelioma treatment since earlier this year, is now being used at M. D. Anderson for lung cancer. "We are beginning to offer it to patients," he says. "Alimta is permitted for use in patients with stage 3 or 4 small-cell lung cancer who have had prior but unsuccessful chemotherapy treatment."

Herbst says his group is also planning to open future clinical trials at M. D. Anderson using Alimta, including a study that will test it in combination with radiation therapy for treatment of lung cancer. He also suggests that it can someday potentially be used in first line therapy for non-small cell lung cancer based on data from his group.

Drug improves vitamin supplements

Alimta is a refinement of one of the oldest classes of chemotherapy drugs known as "anti-folates" that block folate, a B vitamin involved in making new genetic material. While it reduces the ability of cancer cells to reproduce and grow, the therapy can also harm normal cells, so patients are given extra supplements of folate and B12, to reduce the drug's toxicity.

"If you supplement this drug with vitamin B12 and folate, the patients do extremely well," Herbst says. An added benefit is that the drug is given to patients through an intravenous catheter in a procedure that lasts only ten minutes, and is administered only once every three weeks.

The drug's possibilities have expanded to other diseases. Alimta also received FDA approval to treat malignant pleural mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer associated with asbestos exposure. M. D. Anderson researchers also participated in clinical trials that led to approval of use of Alimta for mesothelioma.

"It is a promising drug that will further help our patients who suffer from this all too common and devastating disease," Herbst says.