U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE, Financial) has been on the mission of improving its product pipeline the past few years and many a times it has also faced several setbacks on the same. The company has a well-diversified product pipeline, and the oncology group has been actively investing its time in research and development for new molecules that could aid in saving the lives of millions of cancer-afflicted patients across the globe. Let’s quickly take a look at the current advancements of Pfizer in the field of cancer that have received appreciation in the recent past.
The recent developmental tales
The pharma major has collaborated with Provectus Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (PVCT, Financial) for the study on the investigational drug PV-10 which won approval from the U.S. Patent Office on April 20 this year for a joint patent application filed by both the companies. PV-10 when used in conjunction with systematic inhibitors of immune system could generate promising results as already indicated during the pre-clinical trials.
In fact, this investigational drug is being developed to be directly injected into the solid cancer tumor, thereby preventing the occurrence of systematic side effects in patients. It is to be noted that, since 2013, PV-10 has been portrayed to be a potentially viable cancer therapy in several medical meetings held across the globe. Pfizer is expecting that this PV-10, when used in combination with one or more drugs in the treatment of melanoma and cancers of the liver, should be highly effective in improving the patient’s response to the combined drug. Provectus has already completed the phase 2 trials of PV-10 to be used as a better treatment option for metastatic melanoma.
Besides the PV-10 drug, Pfizer has been experimenting with a blood cancer drug that recently met one of the two goals set in a late-stage trial as patients showed almost complete remission from the disease after being treated with the drug. The drug, called inotuzumab ozogamicin, is targeted toward treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia in adults affected by the deadly disease. It has been noticed that, in patients whose cancer has not responded to previous treatment or has returned after treatment, the drug could work wonders by causing the cancer to fall below detectable levels, better than patients treated with the standard chemotherapy technique.
In the majority of blood cancer patients affected by the disease, it has been seen that either there is a relapse or the initial treatment just fails to show any immune response, that in turn reduces the five-year survival rate to less than 10%. This new experimental drug would be highly effective in such cases since it combines a cell-killing chemical with an antibody that is attracted to a substance found on the surface of certain types of cancer cells. If this experimental drug received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in the near future, it could aid in treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia that happens to be an aggressive type of leukemia much more effectively.
Parting word
Once these experimental drugs hit the market after being approved by the FDA, the company would reap the benefit of adding such life-saving cancer drugs to its new products portfolio. However, to date as these drugs are still in their trial phases, there is still a long way to walk before they could probably hit the market and offer competition to the immediate rivals of Pfizer. So, let’s stay tuned and keep a watch.
