Glaxo's Tykerb helps some with kidney cancer-study

ATLANTA, June 4 (Reuters) GlaxoSmithKline Plc's experimental pill Tykerb helped some patients with advanced kidney cancer live longer, French researchers reported.

No difference in survival was seen for the overall group of 416 patients studied, said scientists at University Hospital of Bordeaux yesterday.

A benefit was seen, however, in 241 of those patients who had tumors that produced the highest amounts of a protein called EGFR, which helps tumor cells grow and divide. Patients in that group who took Tykerb survived an average of 46 weeks, compared with 38 weeks for others who received standard hormonal therapy.

Tykerb targets EGFR, which is found in several types of cancers.

The patients who took part in the Glaxo-sponsored trial had an advanced form of kidney cancer known as renal cell carcinoma. Before the study they were treated with standard therapies but their cancers continued to grow.

Common side effects in Tykerb patients included rash and minor or moderate diarrhea.

The findings were released at an annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Tykerb is known generically as lapatinib.

REUTERS SY KP0854