Drug breakthrough provides new hope for cancer patients with cachexia

Researchers discovered a drug that safely and effectively helped cancer patients when they suffered from cachexia (ku-KEK-see-uh), a common condition related to cancer that involves weight loss and muscle wasting.

The results of the randomized phase 2 clinical trial, which included187 individuals who experienced cachexia with lung, pancreatic, or colorectal cancer, were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine on Sept. 14, 2024. Richard Dunne, MD, MS, a Wilmot Cancer Institute oncologist and cachexia expert was part of the large group of investigators who ran the nationwide clinical trial.

Cachexia involves loss of appetite and weight, muscle-wasting, fatigue, and weakness. It affects more than 50 percent of people who have cancer, and currently there are no FDA-approved treatments.

Scientists discovered that a drug, ponsegromab, blocks a hormone known as GDF-15 that regulates appetite and body weight. The patients in the trial had elevated levels of GDF-15, a primary driver of cachexia. Ponsegromab is a type of drug known as a monoclonal antibody, and in this trial, it improved many aspects of cachexia and its symptoms. Side effects were minimal, Dunne said, and in fact ponsegromab appeared to be safer than common appetite stimulants used by cachexia patients.

Drugmaker Pfizer supported the study, and released this news.

Learn how Wilmot is involved in the global effort to understand and prevent cancer cachexia.

Source:

University of Rochester Medical Center

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