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Melanoma Drug Succeeds in Late-Stage Trial
By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: March 19, 2013
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A cancer drug based on a tumor-killing virus has for the first time succeeded in a late-stage clinical trial, giving a lift to a technology that has long tantalized doctors and researchers.
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• Amgen Inc
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Amgen, which is developing the drug, said late Tuesday that it had met the primary goal of a Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with advanced melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer.
In the trial, 16 percent of the patients who had the treatment, called talimogene laherparepvec, or TVEC, experienced a significant shrinkage of their tumors that lasted at least six months. That compared with only 2 percent of the patients in a control group.
Amgen said that while people getting TVEC were living longer, it was too early to say definitively whether the drug had improved survival, something that might be known late this year. A company spokeswoman said it was also too early to say if Amgen would file for regulatory approval based on the trial results.