Baseline AFP Protein Levels Affect Ramucirumab Benefit in HCC

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may derive greater benefit from treatment with second-line ramucirumab if their baseline alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels are greater than 400 ng/mL, according to the results of the REACH study.
Further analysis from the REACH study have identified AFP as a potential marker for selecting patients who may benefit from ramucirumab treatment in advanced HCC,” said Andrew X. Zhu, MD, from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, during his presentation at the 2015 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. “A robust and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival was observed in the population with elevated baseline AFP level.

Ramucirumab also improved survival in advanced colorectal cancer when combined with chemotherapy

The new angiogenesis inhibitor ramucirumab (Cyramza, Lilly) showed a survival benefit in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who had stopped responding to initial therapy in the international phase 3 trial known as RAISE.
The results suggest that second-line therapy in colorectal cancer could be a new indication for the drug, which is already approved in the United States for use in stomach cancer and lung cancer.

Ramucirumab is a vascular endothelial growth-factor receptor 2 (VEGFR) antagonist, and is seen as a successor to the first angiogenesis inhibitor, bevacizumab (Avastin, Roche /Genentech).

http://www.cancernetwork.com/asco-2015-gastrointestinal-cancers-symposium/reach-baseline-afp-levels-affect-ramucirumab-benefit-hcc?cid=PR02052015#sthash.ri5VEzIH.dpuf
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/838136