Celgene's Abraxane doubles PFS for melanoma patients in PhIII

Celgene ($CELG) got a boost early this month when it announced that its cancer drug Abraxane helped improve progression-free survival among patients with metastatic melanoma. This morning the biotech detailed the data being outlined in an abstract, showing that patients in the Abraxane arm achieved an average PFS rate of 4.8 months compared to 2.5 months for patients who received dacarbazine chemotherapy. Researchers say the data reflect a positive trend for overall survival. "Metastatic melanoma presents significant treatment challenges due in part to limited therapies, low survival rates at diagnosis and no advances in chemotherapy in thirty-seven years," said Dr. Evan M. Hersh, lead principal investigator and Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ. "Despite advances with targeted treatment and immunotherapies, there is still a need for new agents including chemotherapy treatments for patients with metastatic melanoma." Release