Experimental Amgen drug gets positive results in cancer trial

A treatment that targets a specific genetic mutation has proven to be effective in shrinking tumors in some patients with advanced lung cancer.

The small trial for Amgen’s oral drug called AMG510 involved just 10 patients, but the results looked promising. In half of the patients, the cancer tumors shrank by more than 50 percent and the disease progressed in just one. 

Of the 18 patients with colorectal cancer that also took AMG510, 13 saw the disease stabilized. 

The side effects profile for the treatment was also minimal.

Amgen said it is testing AMG510 as a combination with Merck’s blockbuster immunotherapy, Keytruda. If the treatment is approved, it will be the first FDA-backed drug targeting a mutated form of the KRAS gene. 

Read the full Reuters report.