Reolysin, a drug developed by Oncolytics Biotech to boost the effects of standard chemotherapy drugs, has shown initial positive results in a clinical study of patients with head and neck cancer.
Reolysin is based on a virus that is found in almost all adults' respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts without generally causing any symptoms. The drug may boost the effects of two standard chemotherapy drugs in some cancer patients, according to a company press release.
In a double-blind, randomized, phase III clinical trial, researchers examined Reolysin in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel in second-line patients with platinum-refractory, taxane-naive head and neck cancers.
The study's end point examined the initial percentage tumor changes between the pretreatment and first post-treatment scans (typically performed at six weeks after the first treatment) of all patients enrolled in the study.
A first analysis found that 86% of the patients showed tumor stabilization or shrinkage, compared with 67% in the control group. A second analysis showed that Reolysin in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel was significantly more effective than the two chemotherapy agents alone in stabilizing or shrinking metastatic tumors, the company noted.
