WASHINGTON (AP) -- Patients who have run out of options to fight a particularly deadly brain tumor are about to get a new therapy that could prolong their lives a little with apparently few side effects.
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the first new chemotherapy for brain tumors in 20 years, a drug called Temodar designed for adults whose anaplastic astrocytomas have failed treatment."Temodar is not a wonder drug, . . . not the cure drug that we're looking for," cautioned Dr. Alred Yung, oncology chairman at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, who tested the drug.
"But it's better than what we have had," because patients can take Temodar at home with fewer side effects than many alternatives, he said.
Temodar, known chemically as temozolomide, is an oral form of chemotherapy. Patients would take pills at home for five days a month -- every month until their tumors seem to stop responding.
About 18,000 brain tumors are diagnosed in the United States each year. Anaplastic astrocytomas are one of the worst kinds, accounting for 2,000 to 3,000 new cases a year. These rapidly growing, hard-to-treat tumors typically kill within two to three years of diagnosis.
Temodar is one of a new class of cancer drugs. Schering-Plough Corp. tested it against anaplastic astrocytomas in patients who relapsed despite surgery, radiation and other chemotherapy.
Twelve of 54 patients -- a fairly impressive 22 percent -- had their tumors significantly shrink or temporarily disappear, the FDA said.
The study was tiny and did not compare Temodar to older chemotherapies.