Amgen Inc. and Genmab A/S said a combination of their drugs Kyprolis and Darzalex with chemotherapy medicine dexamethasone stopped blood cancer from getting worse during a late-stage study.
The companies were comparing the combination with a two-drug regimen of Kyprolis and dexamethasone during a phase 3 trial known as Candor in patients with multiple myeloma whose cancer had relapsed after receiving up to three prior treatments.
The three-drug therapy reduced the risk of cancer progression or death by 37% in patients, Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen said. On average, patients that received the two-drug combination during the study lived 15.8 months without their disease worsening or death, a measure known as progression-free survival. Whereas the average progression-free survival for the triple combination was not reached, indicating patients were surviving longer than those receiving the two-drug combination.
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Multiple myeloma is a rare type of life-threatening blood cancer. Worldwide, about 160,000 people are diagnosed with multiple myeloma each year and 106,000 patient deaths are reported annually.
The companies said they will discuss the possibility of having the three-drug regimen approved with health authorities.
Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Biotech Inc. is developing Darzalex, or daratumumab, as part of an August 2012 exclusive worldwide license agreement with Copenhagen-based Genmab. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approved Darzalex, in combination with bortezomib, melphalan and prednisone, in August for treating patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant.
Kyprolis is approved in the U.S. in combination with dexamethasone or with lenalidomide plus dexamethasone, for treating patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received one to three lines of therapy, and as a single agent for treating multiple myeloma patients who have received one or more lines of therapy.
Kyprolis generated $267 million in sales during the second quarter of the year, a 2% increase from the same period in 2018. Meanwhile, Darzalex raked in $774 million from worldwide sales during the second quarter of 2019.

