It’s been quite a roller coaster ride for Hedgehog inhibitors of late.

Infinity Pharmaceuticals Last week, brought negative data as Infinity announced that their phase II trial with saridegib (IPI-926) had been stopped for futility in pancreatic cancer.  This trial sought to determine the impact of the hedgehog in combination with gemcitabine over gemcitabine alone in advanced pancreatic cancer.  Unfortunately, the trial was stopped for futility, meaning the control arm was doing better than the treatment arm.

All is not lost for pancreatic patients though, as Roche/Genentech have a phase II trial currently recruiting patients with the triple combination of gemcitabine, nab-paclitaxel and vismodegib.  Previously, we have discussed the impact of Abraxane on removing the stromal layer in pancreatic cancer in animal models using nanotechnology to enable therapy to work and I think this may be a more promising approach in the long run.

In contrast, there was good news this morning as the FDA approved Roche/Genentech’s vismodegib, now known as Erivedge, in advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) who are not candidates for surgery or radiation and for patients with metastatic disease.

The original PDUFA date was scheduled for March 8th, so this is an early approval, but one that is not entirely unexpected given the promising results previously presented at medical conferences over the last 12-18 months.

The goal of the trial was to measure overall response rate (ORR).  In final analysis, the results showed that 30% of the metastatic patients experienced a partial response (PR), while 43% of patients with locally advanced disease experienced a complete (CR) or partial response.  These results represent a clear advance for patients with this disease and studies are also ongoing looking at new combinations to overcome resistance and hopefully, extend outcomes further.

For those of you interested in pricing, it looks as though Erivedge will be $7500/month so that would be estimated $75,000 for typical 10-month course of treatment (HT Ruth Coxeter, CNBC).

Links:

FDA Press Release

Genentech Press Release