S-P's Temodar boosts survival in GBM by 4 yrs

Over four times as many patients with a rapidly fatal type of brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, who are treated with Schering-Plough's chemotherapy drug Temodar (temozolomide) and radiation therapy can live for four more years after diagnosis, compared to those who receive only radiation treatment, according to updated results of a large, international trial presented at a plenary session of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 49th annual meeting, held in Los Angeles.

Previously, GBM patients typically lived between six and 12 months after diagnosis, and there were almost no survivors beyond two years. Rene-Olivier Mirimanoff, lead investigator of the temozolomide trial, said that, "considering how quickly this type of cancer spreads, patients who live four or five years after diagnosis are considered long-term survivors." The findings are from an extension of a Phase III, 573-patient trial, which found that 12% of patients who added Temodar during and after radiation lived for four years versus 3% of those on radiation alone.