Calsed earns proprietary clinical gold standard status from Decision Resources

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that Celgene/Nippon Kayaku's Calsed earns Decision Resources' proprietary clinical gold standard status in 2013 for the treatment of extensive-disease small-cell lung cancer, following its approval for the indication in 2012. Calsed has competitive advantages over other drugs used in the second-line setting in efficacy, safety and tolerability, and delivery.

"Calsed has already launched in Japan, and in lieu of Phase III trial results, Phase II data in Western populations comparing the agent with GlaxoSmithKline's Hycamtin (the only agent approved for small-cell lung cancer second-line treatment) are encouraging and show improved efficacy data," stated Decision Resources' Analyst Amy Duval, M.Res.

The new report entitled Extensive-Disease Small-Cell Lung Cancer: New Entrants Will Offer Only Incremental Improvements in Patient Outcomes also finds that a drug's effect on median overall survival is the drug attribute that most influences surveyed oncologists prescribing decisions in extensive-disease small-cell lung cancer. However, clinical data discussed in the report and interviewed key opinion leaders indicate that current and emerging drugs have a very small advantage over the patient share leader Bristol-Myers Squibb's Etopophos/VePesid, generics plus Bristol-Myers Squibb's Paraplatin, generics on this attribute.