Dr. Hyman on MEDI3617 as Potential Treatment for Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors

David Hyman, MD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses a phase I study of the selective angiopoietin-2 inhibitor MEDI3617 alone and in combination with carboplatin/paclitaxel, paclitaxel, or bevacizumab in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Hyman says the trial was a first-in-human study to evaluate the agent. MEDI3617 functions as an anti-angiogenic therapy, much like bevacizumab. The study began as a single-agent, dose escalation study in all solid tumors but other combinations were added. During the study, Hyman says MEDI3617 was tested in combination with chemotherapies and bevacizumab.

The study showed that the agent worked well and there were several responses in ovarian cancer when the drug was administered alone. When the drug was used in combination, there were multiple responses across the various tumor types. Hyman says when some ovarian cancer patients were treated with the highest dosage of MEDI3617, they experienced severe swelling that persisted even after treatment was stopped. Hyman says a lower dose of the agent is currently being evaluated.