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After more than three decades of effort you research and diagnosis, lung cancer It is still the tumor that causes more mortality in Spain: over half a million deaths in the last thirty years and about 30,000 new cases a year. Some data provided by the Spanish Lung Cancer Group (GECP) and the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) entities also point out that smoking is a risk factor number one, a habit that increases among women.
Breathlessness, bronchitis and pneumonia infections such as recurrent, fatigue, cough, weight loss, pain, hoarseness, chest wheeze … are the symptoms that the Spanish people expect of the disease. But the reality is that lung cancer is a disease silent in its early stages and in many cases are discovered incidentally on a radiograph or CT for other reasons.
Early diagnosis is essential and will make a difference in the evolution of the tumor and how to approach treatment. And in this disease, there is a 15% of patients who develop small cell lung cancer (CPM), which gets its name from the small size of their cells. Its main cause is the snuffAs well as pollution or exposure to radon gas and asbestos. It is characterized by rapid growth and aggressiveness, to the point that in many cases when diagnosed, most patients have metastases and present condition of the central nervous system.
Fast and aggressive
The tests will determine if it is limited stage, located on one side of the chest treatable with one radiation field, or in advanced stage where it has spread through the lungs, the lymph nodes of the other side of the chest or other parts of the body as bone marrow. Its rapid advancement, aggressiveness and poor prognosis pose a challenge for specialists and unmet medical need due to their biological characteristics and how it causes illness.
A chemotherapy have added new therapies that improve survival and reduce toxicity. Now, all eyes are set on the Precision medicine directed molecular or genomic alterations to cope effectively. But also on advances that are occurring in the application of new drugs. “Lurbinectedina is proving to be a new and potential alternative treatment for small cell lung cancer second line, where, until now, there has been no progress for more than two decades, “says Luis Paz-Ares, head of the Oncology Service of the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid.
It is a drug that comes from a marine organism and now produced synthetically, isolated from Ecteinacidia ascidian turbinata that, besides having inhibitory effect on cancer cells decreases the production of cytokines that are essential for the growth of the tumor . New hope for the years leading betting PharmaMar, which in June 2019 filed with the oncology community at the ASCO conference, the results of a Phase II study with lurbinectedina as single agent for the treatment of the CPM. Six months later, he led to the FDA’s application for registration of the new drug under the regulation ‘approval accelered “that allows conditional drug approval covering an unmet medical need for a serious illness or condition or life threatening. In June 2020 it was approved in the United States this treatment by PharmaMar and its partner Jazz Pharmaceuticals.
Way to Europe
Just a few months announcing the start of a confirmatory clinical trial phase III Lagoon, assessing the effectiveness after administration of lurbinectedina alone or in combination with irinotecan, another drug. Their results open the door to which can be marketed in Europe. “We are very excited about this trial, which is designed to lurbinectedina strengthen as second-line treatment of choice in the US and has the potential to bring our treatment to European patients,” says Dr. Ali Zeaiter, director of clinical development of Business unit Oncology PharmaMar.
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