Novartis drug slows 69% of GI tumors

Swiss drug major Novartis' Sandostatin LAR Depot (octreotide acetate suspension for injection) demonstrated antitumor benefit in patients  with metastatic neuro-endocrine tumors of the mid-gut in interim data  presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastro-intestinal  Cancers Symposium in California, USA.

After six months of treatment in the Phase IIIb, multicenter,  prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, PROMID study,  patients receiving Sandostatin had a 66% reduction in risk of disease  progression compared to those taking placebo (p=0.000072). This  reduction is based on findings that the drug halted tumor growth in 69%  of subjects, compared with 39% of those receiving placebo. Patients who  took Sandostatin had no tumor progression for a median of 14.3 months,  compared to six months in the placebo group. This beneficial effect was  seen in patients with either hormone-secreting or non-functioning NETs.

"Sandostatin LAR has a proven track record of treating the severe  diarrhea and flushing associated with neuroendocrine tumors and now this  study demonstrates that Sandostatin LAR also helps control tumor growth  in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors of the mid-gut," said  lead investigator Rudolf Arnold.