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Researchers find Relistor associated with improved OS in advanced cancers
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When patients with advanced cancers respond to Relistor to treat their opioid-induced constipation, they also see an added benefit of living nearly twice as long as their nonresponsive or placebo-treated counterparts, according to recently presented research.
“It appears if you respond to the drug as indicated by the label, you live about twice as long and we wondered if that was just better nutrition; people were happier, people could eat. … But, we had a control group with about 135 patients who had COPD, congestive heart failure, neurologic diseases, and they didn’t show any of the same response curves,” Jonathan Moss, MD, PhD, an anesthesiologist at the University of Chicago, told Healio Gastroenterology regarding his presentation at the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting. “It implies that [opioid] receptor, much as we showed in the lab, is somehow involved — we don’t know exactly how — in tumor progression.”
Moss and colleagues conducted a retrospective survival analysis looking at 229 patients who participated in two randomized, controlled clinical trials of Relistor (methylnaltrexone bromide, Valeant Pharmaceuticals) in palliative care patients who did not respond to conventional laxatives.
Looking specifically at patients with advanced cancers, 117 received methynaltrexone and 112 received a placebo. Of those treated with the medication, 57% responded.
Those responders lived an average of 118 days vs. non-responders and the placebo group, who lived 58 days. Additionally, tumor progression in the responder group was 7.6%, while nonresponders had 22% progression and those on placebo had 25.4% progression.
These were trends Moss said he noticed in his treatment of patients under compassionate use.
“It’s really nice to have human data that’s consistent. … We found an association between improved survival and opiate blockade,” he said. “The beauty of this is it’s an approved drug. It’s been used in hundreds of thousands of cancer patients without major side effects. … This could all be done in a timely fashion because the doses are approved doses.” – by Katrina Altersitz
Disclosures: Moss reports he is a developer of methylnaltrexone and receives royalties through the University of Chicago. He also is a paid consultant for Salix Pharmaceuticals, which has been acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals.