BATTLE Trial Personalizes Lung Cancer Therapy

Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in men and women, but huge randomized trials of thousands of patients have either failed completely or shown negligible survival differences.

Researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, have successfully completed a novel Phase II clinical trial program, BATTLE (Biomarker-integrated Approaches of Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer Elimination). Results suggest that patients prescribed treatment with existing drugs based on their tumor biomarkers benefit more than patients whose treatment is not based on their tumor biomarkers.

The full data on this trial is being withheld until it is presented at the plenary session at the American Association for Cancer Research 101st Annual Meeting 2010 on Sunday, April 18 at 11:25 a.m. ET n Hall D of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in Washington, D.C.

Media Briefing to Follow Presentation

At 1:00 p.m. ET in room 142 of the convention center, Edward S. Kim, M.D., associate professor of thoracic and head and neck medical oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and lead researcher on the BATTLE trial,will take questions from the media. He will be joined by:
• Roy S. Herbst, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chief of thoracic medical oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and secondary researcher on the study;
• Deepa Subramaniam, M.D., interim chief of the Center for Thoracic Medical Oncology at Georgetown University Lombardi Cancer Center, who is not involved with the study;
• Jeffrey Wigbels, 60, lung cancer survivor and former participant in the BATTLE trial; and
• Erwin Lobo, 36, lung cancer survivor.

Reporters who cannot attend the briefing in person can call in using the following information:

U.S. and Canada: (888) 282-7404
International: (706) 679-5207
Access Code: 59333370

“The lung cancer research community has produced about five negative trials for every one positive trial, and clinicians are left with no objective information for how to treat patients with lung cancer. The BATTLE trial changes the landscape of lung cancer research and mandates an initiative of biomarker-based treatment strategies.”
— Edward S. Kim, M.D.

“BATTLE has set a precedent for future clinical trials with the goal of identifying biomarkers early on and improving the chance of successful treatment. This biological knowledge will shift the paradigm of how future trials are done.”
— Roy S. Herbst, M.D., Ph.D.

“Every oncologist dreams of the day when we can move away from the shotgun approach of chemotherapy that we have used for decades. The BATTLE trial gives us hope that personalized medicine in lung cancer is feasible and may be an effective way to treat patients.”— Deepa Subramaniam, M.D.