ASCO, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, J&J-Janssen, Leukemia / 03.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul M. Barr, M.D. Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Clinical Trials Office Director of the Clinical Trials Office Wilmot Cancer Institute  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: When the study was designed, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)  treatment options were largely limited to chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies. Ibrutinib had shown promise in early studies. The intent was to compare ibrutinib to a standard of care treatment option at that time, of atumumab, in patients with relapsed or refractory disease. The goal of the current analysis is to evaluate the durability of ibrutinib and report the long-term safety results. (more…)
ASCO, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, J&J-Janssen, NEJM, Prostate Cancer / 01.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kim Chi. MD Professor of Medicine Medical Oncologist and Medical Director at BC Cancer – Vancouver University of British Columbia, Principal Investigator of the TITAN Study. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: For more than 70 years, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been the standard of care therapy for patients with metastatic prostate cancer. The Phase 3 TITAN study looked at adding apalutamide (®®®®) to ADT compared with placebo plus ADT in a broad group of patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC), regardless of disease volume or prior docetaxel treatment history. Metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer is prostate cancer that still responds to androgen deprivation therapy and has spread to other parts of the body. Patients with mCSPC tend to have a poor prognosis, with a median overall survival (OS) of less than five years, underscoring the need for new treatment options. The dual primary endpoints of this study were overall survival and radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS).  (more…)
Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, J&J-Janssen / 05.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul Burton MD, PhD, FACC Vice President, Medical Affairs Internal Medicine Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: More than 900,000 Americans experience a venous thromboembolism (VTE) each year, with about one-third of these occurrences being fatal. Once a person experiences a VTE, they are at increased risk of a repeat occurrence. Guidelines currently recommend standard anticoagulant therapy with a Factor Xa inhibitor, like XARELTO® (rivaroxaban), for three months or longer. For those people who have had a VTE and stop anticoagulant therapy, as many as 10 percent of them will experience another VTE within one year and 20 percent within three years. This study examined extended use of XARELTO® after the recommended three-month treatment period in patients who experienced an initial VTE, showing XARELTO® was associated with a decreased risk of recurrent VTE with no increase in major bleeding during this time period.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Hematology, J&J-Janssen, Thromboembolism / 04.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul Burton MD, PhD, FACC Vice President, Medical Affairs Internal Medicine Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Despite being largely preventable, venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the second leading cause of death in people with cancer. The risk of VTE is five times greater in people with cancer than those without cancer, and that risk is magnified in those receiving certain types of chemotherapy, in the newly diagnosed and in those with more advanced, metastatic disease. This 6,194-patient study examined economic burden associated with VTE, and found patients newly diagnosed with cancer who are at a higher risk of a VTE had significantly higher all-cause and VTE-related health care costs compared to patients with a lower risk of VTE. (more…)
Author Interviews, Clots - Coagulation, Hematology, J&J-Janssen / 04.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul Burton MD, PhD, FACC Vice President, Medical Affairs Internal Medicine Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) is complicated among morbidly obese patients. Current guidelines do not recommend use of Factor Xa inhibitors in these patients due to limited clinical data available. That's why Janssen undertook this study to examine XARELTO® (rivaroxaban) in these patients. In this 5,780-patient retrospective study, results found patients treated with XARELTO® had a similar risk of recurrent VTE and major bleeding compared to those taking warfarin. However, treatment with XARELTO® was associated with less all-cause health care resource utilization (HCRU) (e.g., inpatient hospitalizations and outpatient visits) and reduced total medical costs compared to warfarin. Of note, patients taking XARELTO® had an average $2,829 lower total medical costs per patient per year (PPPY) than those taking warfarin, which was mainly driven by lower hospitalization costs. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Hematology, J&J-Janssen / 04.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Caroline McKay, PhD Real World Value & Evidence, Oncology Janssen Scientific Affairs MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Considering patient preferences in treatment decision-making in oncology is growing in importance. While recent introduction of new treatments for multiple myeloma have improved survival and the possibility of sustaining longer remission periods, regimen options still vary with respect to efficacy, safety, and dosing. Therefore, patients and providers must consider tradeoffs inherent in making treatment decisions that are growing in complexity. Despite this, there is a lack of research describing patient preferences within the context of currently available treatment regimens. To address this gap, this study examined how multiple myeloma patients evaluate, or weigh, treatment options. Key findings from the research are that treatment preferences do not appear to be static, but instead suggest that the relative importance of treatment attributes may change over time and treatment history. Further, patients place higher importance on overall survival and progression-free survival than other treatment attributes, and may be willing to accept an increase in the risk of serious side effects and reduced convenience in exchange for greater efficacy; however, when efficacy is comparable, patients appear to place greater weight on dosing frequency than on the duration of treatment administration, i.e., more frequent dosing appears to be less preferable to patients than longer administration/infusion time.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Hematology, J&J-Janssen / 02.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Peter Voorhees, MD Plasma Cell Disorders Program Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders Levine Cancer Institute Atrium Health MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: All multiple myeloma arises from its precursor conditions, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM). Although the rate of progression to multiple myeloma for patients with MGUS is low (~5% over 5 years), patients with SMM have a ~50% likelihood of requiring therapy for their multiple myeloma within the first 5 years of diagnosis. For those at intermediate to high risk of disease progression, early intervention to delay progression of disease, thereby averting disease-related morbidities related and potentially changing the natural course of the disease, is highly desirable. On the other hand, given the fact that these patients are by definition asymptomatic and would otherwise be monitored off treatment, it is critical that any intervention applied in this group of patients is well tolerated. Daratumumab is a highly attractive candidate in this particular space, because it has single agent activity in heavily-pretreated relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and a favorable side effect profile relative to many other myeloma therapeutics. Additionally, given the importance of impaired immune surveillance in multiple myeloma, the immuno-stimulatory effects of daratumumab in the bone marrow microenvironment could potentially reawaken robust T cell responses to the disease. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Hematology, J&J-Janssen, Lymphoma / 02.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Murali Sundaram, MBA, Ph.D. Director of Real World Value and Evidence Oncology, Janssen MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Ibrutinib is a novel Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor approved for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Ibrutinib is administered orally while standard of care (CD20 monoclonal antibody-based chemoimmunotherapy [CIT]) is administered intravenously. This difference in route of administration impacts what type of benefit covers these treatments (i.e., pharmacy benefit for oral ibrutinib and medical benefit for intravenous CIT). Previous studies evaluating the costs burden of patients treated with ibrutinib versus CIT did not include the full spectrum of real-world healthcare costs. (more…)
Author Interviews, J&J-Janssen, Prostate, Prostate Cancer, Urology / 30.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Fred Saad, MD FRCS Full Professor and Chief of Urologic Oncology, CHUM; Medical Director of Interdisciplinary Urologic Oncology Group, CHUM; Department of Surgery/Faculty of Medicine; Institut du cancer de Montréal/CRCHUM MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The SPARTAN study was a Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study that evaluated ERLEADA (apalutamide), a next-generation androgen signaling inhibitor, in patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC) who had a rapidly rising PSA (PSA doubling time ≤10 months). The post-hoc analysis presented at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2018 annual meeting showed in patients who received the treatment apalutamide while receiving continuous androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly decreased the risk of PSA progression by 94 percent compared with the placebo group. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, J&J-Janssen, Leukemia / 17.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Andrzej Jakubowiak, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine Director, Myeloma Program University of Chicago MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this announcement? Would you briefly explain what is meant by multiple myeloma?   Response: DARZALEX (daratumumab) in combination with VELCADE (bortezomib), melphalan and prednisone - VMP - received U.S. FDA approval for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). With this most recent approval, DARZALEX is now the first monoclonal antibody approved for newly diagnosed patients with this disease. Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer that occurs when malignant plasma cells grow uncontrollably in the bone marrow. Despite the introduction of new medicines over the last decade, which has led to significant improvements in outcomes for patients with multiple myeloma, multiple myeloma remains an incurable disease. In 2018, it is estimated that 30,700 people will be diagnosed and 12,770 will die from the disease in the United States. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, J&J-Janssen, Pharmaceutical Companies, Rheumatology / 13.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Atul A. Deodhar, MD, MRCP, FACP, FACR Professor of Medicine Division of Arthritis & Rheumatic Diseases Medical Director, Rheumatology Clinics Medical Director, Immunology Infusion Center Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo–controlled, multicenter trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of guselkumab (Tremfya®) compared with placebo in adults with active psoriatic arthritis, despite having received treatment with standard-of-care therapies, including anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha agents. In an observed analysis presented at ACR 2017, more than 70 percent of patients receiving guselkumab achieved at least a 20 percent improvement in signs and symptoms of disease (ACR 20) at week 56.  Findings also showed that improvements in tender and swollen joints, skin clearance, pain and physical function, and patient-reported quality of life outcomes reported at week 24, were maintained through week 56 in patients receiving guselkumab maintenance therapy (subcutaneous injections every eight weeks).  (more…)
AstraZeneca, Author Interviews, Boehringer Ingelheim, Diabetes, Eli Lilly, J&J-Janssen, Merck, Pharmacology / 18.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Melanie J Davies CBE MB ChB MD FRCP FRCGP Professor of Diabetes Medicine NIHR Senior Investigator Emeritus Diabetes Research Centre Leicester Diabetes Centre – Bloom University of Leicester MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  This was the first study to test the effectiveness of an oral GLP-1 in patients with type 2 diabetes. The main findings were that compared to both placebo and a GLP-1, Semaglutide, delivered by sub-cutaneous injection weekly, the oral therapy delivered once a day produced better results than placebo and similar results to injectable GLP-1 with regard to reductions in HbA1c and weight loss. (more…)
Author Interviews, Boehringer Ingelheim, Columbia, Heart Disease, J&J-Janssen, Merck, NEJM / 14.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Christopher P. Cannon MD Executive Director, Cardiometabolic Trials, Baim Institute Cardiologist Brigham and Women's Hospital Baim Institute for Clinical Research Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The trial explored whether a dual therapy approach of anticoagulation and P2Y12 antagonist - without aspirin - in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) patients following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and stent placement would be as safe, and still efficacious, as the current standard treatment – triple therapy. For more detailed background on the study, readers may want to review the first paragraph of the article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Results showed significantly lower rates of major or clinically relevant non-major bleeding events for dual therapy with dabigatran, when compared to triple therapy with warfarin. In the study, the risk for the primary safety endpoint (time to major or clinically relevant non-major bleeding event) was 48 percent lower for dabigatran 110 mg dual therapy and 28 percent lower for dabigatran 150 mg dual therapy (relative difference), with similar rates of overall thromboembolic events. (more…)
Author Interviews, HIV, J&J-Janssen, Merck, Pharmacology / 26.07.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kathleen Squires MD Professor and Director of Infectious Diseases Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia, PA  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
  • The pivotal Phase 3 DRIVE-AHEAD study evaluated the safety and efficacy of a once-daily, single tablet, fixed-dose combination containing doravirine, an investigational non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) for the treatment of HIV-1 infection, compared to a fixed-dose combination containing efavirenz.
    • After 48 weeks of treatment, 84 percent of the 364 treatment-naïve patients taking once-daily DOR/3TC/TDF achieved levels of HIV-1 RNA <50 copies/mL compared to 81 percent of the 364 patients taking once-daily EFV/FTC/TDF, with an estimated treatment difference of 3.5 percent.
    • Increases in mean CD4+ T-cell counts from baseline for the DOR/3TC/TDF and EFV/FTC/TDF groups were 198 and 188 cells/mm3, respectively, with an estimated treatment difference of 10.1.
    • In addition, comparable efficacy was observed across both treatment groups among individuals with high viral load (HIV-1 RNA >100,000 copies/mL) at baseline, which consisted of 69 patients in the DOR/3TC/TDF group and 73 patients in the EFV/FTC/TDF group (Observed Failure approach).
      • Of those patients with a high viral load (HIV-1 RNA >100,000 copies/mL) at baseline, 81 percent in the DOR/3TC/TDF group and 81 percent in the EFV/FTC/TDF group achieved the study’s primary endpoint of <50 copies/mL of HIV-1 RNA, with a treatment difference of 1.0 percent.
    • The study also met its primary safety endpoint, showing that treatment with DOR/3TC/TDF resulted in fewer patients reporting events of several pre-specified neuropsychiatric adverse events compared to EFV/FTC/TDF by Week 48, including dizziness (8.8 percent versus 37.1 percent); sleep disorders and disturbances (12.1 percent versus 25.5 percent); and inability to think clearly or concentrate (4.4 percent versus 8.2 percent).
(more…)
AstraZeneca, Author Interviews, Boehringer Ingelheim, Diabetes, Eli Lilly, J&J-Janssen, Lipids, Merck / 19.06.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lawrence Leiter, M.D. MDCM, FRCPC, FACP FACE, FAHA Chair of the ODYSSEY DM Steering Committee and Director of the Lipid Clinic at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute St. Michael’s Hospital University of Toronto, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The ODYSSEY DM-INSULIN trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study that evaluated alirocumab (Praluent) in 517 patients with insulin treated type 1 and type 2 diabetes with high cardiovascular (CV) risk and hypercholesterolemia despite maximally tolerated dose (MTD) statins. The primary endpoint was percent change in calculated LDL-C from baseline to week 24. Alirocumab 75 mg every two weeks was added to MTD statins, with the dose increased at week 12 to 150 mg every two weeks if the LDL-C at week 8 was greater than or equal to 70 mg/dL. In fact, only about 20% of the alirocumab treated participants required the higher dose. Results of the type 2 diabetes study population (n=441) showed that the addition of alirocumab to MTD statin therapy, reduced LDL-C by 48.2 percent from baseline compared to a 0.8 percent increase for placebo. The mean difference between the two treatment arms was -49 percent (p<0.0001). Treatment with alirocumab also improved the overall lipid profile. Furthermore, no new safety issues were identified. There is a large unmet need for improving cholesterol lowering in patients with diabetes. Despite current standard of care, nearly 70 percent of people age 65 or older with diabetes die from some form of heart disease; and 16 percent die of stroke. Additionally, in spite of current standard of care, many people with diabetes continue to have persistent lipid abnormalities resulting in high residual CV risk. (more…)
AstraZeneca, Author Interviews, Autism, Boehringer Ingelheim, Depression, Eli Lilly, J&J-Janssen, JAMA, Merck, OBGYNE / 17.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Florence Gressier MD PhD Insermk Department of psychiatry CHU de Bicêtrem Le Kremlin Bicêtre France MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Results from recent studies have suggested an increased risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in children exposed to antidepressants in utero. We performed a systematic review of and a meta-analysis of published studies to assess the association between ASDs and fetal exposure to antidepressants during pregnancy for each trimester of pregnancy and preconception. Our systematic review and meta-analysis suggests a significant association between increased ASD risk and maternal use of antidepressants during pregnancy; however, it appears to be more consistent during the preconception period than during each trimester. In addition, the association was weaker when controlled for past maternal mental illness. Maternal psychiatric disorders in treatment before pregnancy rather than antenatal exposure to antidepressants could have a major role in the risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders. (more…)
Author Interviews, Boehringer Ingelheim, Dermatology, Eli Lilly, Immunotherapy, J&J-Janssen, Merck / 30.03.2017

MedicalResearch.com Eric Hughes Global Development Franchise Head Immunology & Dermatology Novartis MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease that negatively impacts patients’ quality of life (QOL); therefore QOL outcomes are increasingly recognized as an important measure of efficacy in psoriasis, complementing traditional measures of severity such as the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). Secukinumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody that selectively neutralizes interleukin-17A (IL-17A), exhibits significant efficacy in the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, demonstrating a rapid onset of action and a favorable safety profile. Biologic therapies for psoriasis have previously been associated with a fall-off in efficacy over time; accordingly, extended follow-up is required to adequately evaluate novel therapeutic strategies like IL-17A inhibition. Recently, results from the extension of the SCULPTURE secukinumab trial showed that high responses initially achieved with secukinumab at year 1 in the SCULPTURE study were sustained over time up to 3 years with no new or unexpected safety concerns. In this analysis, we examined whether the sustained efficacy observed in SCULPTURE up to 3 years was translated into sustained effect of secukinumab on patient’s QOL measured by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaire. SCULPTURE, a multi-center extension study, was conducted with subjects who completed 52 weeks of treatment. Subjects were randomized into two maintenance dosing regimens; a fixed-interval schedule of secukinumab 300 mg every 4 weeks (Fixed interval dosing regimen (FI) cohort), and secukinumab retreatment-as-needed (Retreatment as needed (RAN) cohort), in which subjects received placebo until start of relapse, at which time secukinumab 300 mg every 4 weeks was re-initiated. The analysis using as-observed data showed that at Year 3, improvements in the total score on DLQI was well sustained in both FI and RAN cohorts. Approximately two-thirds of the subjects in the FI cohort reported no impact of skin disease on QOL (corresponding to a score of 0 or 1 on DLQI). The proportion of patients in the RAN cohort reporting no impact of the disease on their QOL was well sustained through 3 years but remained consistently lower than those observed in the FI cohort. The results for each subscale of the DLQI questionnaire were consistent with those with DLQI total score i.e. showing high and sustained proportions of patients reporting no impact of the disease on different domains of health-related QOL in the two secukinumab cohorts with greater effect in the FI cohort compared to the RAN cohort. (more…)