August 22, 2008 – Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGSI) announced that it has completed the enrollment and initial dosing of patients in a randomize Phase 2 trial of HGS-ETR1 (mapatumumab) in combination with the chemotherapy agents paclitaxel and carboplatin as first-line therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). “There is an urgent medical need for effective treatment options for non-small cell lung cancer because current treatment strategies have only a minimal impact on survival,” said Joachim von Pawel, M.D., a principal investigator in the study from the Asklepios Fachkliniken München-Gauting, Germany. “The majority of patients who are newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer have locally advanced or metastatic disease that is currently incurable. We look forward to evaluating the potential of mapatumumab plus chemotherapy to offer a new approach to the first-line treatment of this deadly disease.”
The NSCLC trial is a randomized, multi-center, open-label Phase 2 study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of HGS-ETR1 in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel as first-line therapy in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (Stage IIIB or IV). 111 patients have been randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups and treated with either the two-agent combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel or the three-agent combination of carboplatin, paclitaxel, and HGS-ETR1 at either 10 mg/kg or 30 mg/kg. HGS announced the initiation of the NSCLC trial In December 2007... Human Genome Sciences' Press release -
