Drug Shows Activity Against Multiple Myeloma

According to the results of a phase I open-label study, the oral AKT inhibitor afuresertib shows single-agent activity against blood cancers, specifically multiple myeloma.

While a number of available drugs offer myeloma patients as many as four months of progression-free survival, no treatment as yet offers them long-term remission.

"From this first-time-in-human trial we conclude that afuresertib is safe, well tolerated, and has a favorable pharmacokinetic profile," wrote Andrew Spencer, MD, of Alfred Hospital-Monash University, Melbourne Australia, and colleagues. "Based on two dose-limiting toxicities in the 150-mg cohort, the recommended monotherapy phase II dose from this study was established at a maximum tolerated dose of 125 mg daily."

Modern treatments for multiple myeloma, such as carfilzomib and pomalidomide, currently provide patients with a 3- to 4-month increase in progression-free survival. However, researchers are still looking for treatment options that will offer patients with multiple myeloma long-term remission.

In preclinical studies of afuresertib, the drug delayed various human tumor growth in mice, and had a high frequency of sensitivity in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, B-cell ALL, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Therefore for this study, Spencer and colleagues considered the drug's safety, pharmacokinetics and clinical activity in other blood cancers. A total of 73 patients were recruited, with 34 of them diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

Encouraged by the clinical activity in these patients, the team preferentially enrolled them into an expansion cohort.

Researchers reported their findings in the journal Blood.

Source: Cancernetwork