(Bloomberg) -- A GSK Plc drug dramatically cut the risk of dying from an incurable blood cancer in a study, suggesting that the medicine withdrawn two years ago could return to market and become a blockbuster.
The treatment, called Blenrep, reduced the risk of death by 42% compared with a drug sold by Johnson & Johnson, GSK said Monday. Both medicines were combined with others in the clinical trial and given to patients with multiple myeloma, which develops in the bone marrow.
GSK is now seeking permission to start selling Blenrep again and forecast peak annual sales potential of more than £3 billion ($3.8 billion). The drug could potentially become its biggest single medicine by 2031. The announcement comes after a difficult few months for GSK, whose shares have underperformed rivals amid sluggish growth.
Blenrep was previously approved in the US and European Union as a standalone drug for myeloma patients who had already been treated with several other therapies. The latest trial tested Blenrep in combination with other medicines and as an earlier line of treatment.
The trial results showed 74% of patients taking Blenrep and two older medicines were still alive after three years. In the control group, where patients got J&J’s Darzalex with the same other treatments, 60% of volunteers were still alive.
The results are a “potential paradigm shift” for patients who have experienced a relapse or whose cancer no longer responds to its current treatment, said María-Victoria Mateos, the study’s lead researcher and a professor at the University of Salamanca in Spain.
Researchers estimated, using a projection, that patients treated with the Blenrep combination would survive almost three years longer than with existing care.
The trial data was presented Monday at the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting.
During earlier studies, there had been concern about some of the side effects of Blenrep, specifically eye-related ones. To address this, GSK worked to understand the dosing of the drug to better limit any impact on vision. Results from the study show that these side effects were “generally manageable and resolvable with dose modification,” GSK said. About 10% of patients discontinued treatment.
GSK is building up its oncology pipeline, working on the next generation of antibody drug conjugates, T-cell engagers as well as small molecules, said Hesham Abdullah, global head of oncology R&D at GSK. The company is also looking to expand the oncology team, Abdullah said.
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