Takeda Oncology’s best-selling Multiple Myeloma treatment Velcade
achieved blockbuster status in the United States last year, becoming one
of only 10 cancer drugs ever to generate annual US sales of more than
$1 billion. The local research lab of Takeda, formerly known as Millennium
Pharmaceuticals, developed the first oral proteasome inhibitor to treat Multiple Myeloma, a Cancer of plasma cells, and is preparing to report
data from late-stage clinical trials. If all goes well, the company
plans to apply for US and European approval of the pill, called Iixazomib, later this year.
“When you have a simpler, potentially
safer treatment than Velcade, it’s more convenient for patients,”
Christophe Bianchi, president of Takeda’s global oncology business unit,
said in an interview, noting that Velcade has to be injected into
patients. “The [pill] will transform the market, we believe, because it
doesn’t require patients to visit a clinic.”
Ixazomib, like
Velcade, works in cancer cells by blocking proteasome, a cell switch
that breaks down proteins. In cancer cells, the proteins are produced
rapidly. So inhibiting the proteasome allows so many of the proteins to
accumulate that the cancer cells die.
Because many physicians prescribe Velcade as part of a three-drug
cocktail with two pills, patients today have to travel to clinics only
for the proteasome inhibitor. If regulators approve Ixazomib, patients
will be able to take the entire cocktail at home orally, swallowing Iixazomib once a week for three weeks and skipping the fourth week before
repeating the regimen.
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