Investigational cancer treatment yields favorable results, Amgen says

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. A biotech company announced that it got favorable results from a late-stage trial of a drug designed to treat colorectal cancer.

Amgen said Monday that a phase 3 trial evaluating Vectibix (panitumumab) combined with the chemotherapy drug FOLFIRI as a second-line treatment in 1,186 patients with colorectal cancer showed overall survival without cancer progression, compared to FOLFIRI alone.

Median overall survival numbers were not as significant, Amgen said, and the drug had no effect on progression-free or overall survival in patients who had tumors with mutations of the KRAS gene.