Two of BeyondSpring’s (NASDAQ:BYSI) abstracts about its lead asset, Plinabulin, were accepted for publication in the proceedings of this year’s ASCO annual meeting May 31 to June 4 in Chicago.
The data, derived from BeyondSpring’s Phase 2 Study 106, provides a strong rationale for the Plinabulin-Neulasta combination for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN) for improved CIN control. Neulasta is the existing standard of care for CIN.
CIN is a side effect of chemotherapy, and despite the broad use of G-CSFs, febrile neutropenia and resultant hospitalization remain an unresolved clinical problem. In addition, bone pain is a common side effect of G-CSFs, which limits patient compliance and results in suboptimum chemotherapy dosing.
The Plinabulin-Neulasta combination nearly eliminated patients’ treatment-related bone pain. Study 106 included breast cancer patients receiving TAC (docetaxel, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide), which has risk for febrile neutropenia.
The data in one abstract shows that Plinabulin, when added to the standard dose of Neulasta, offered CIN protection throughout the entire chemotherapy cycle, something that could not be achieved by each of these agents alone.
The addition of Plinabulin to Neulasta, almost completely eliminated the Neulasta-induced bone pain, reducing its incidence of at least one day of bone-pain to 6% with the Plinabulin-Neulasta combination, from 95% with the standard dose of Neulasta.
The data in the second abstract highlights that a half dose of Neulasta, combined with Plinabulin, is equally effective against CIN as a full dose of Neulasta alone, demonstrating a strong neutropenia benefit. In addition, the combination therapy offered significantly lower levels of bone pain for patients, along with a favorable immune profile, compared with Neulasta alone.
“These results suggest that combining Plinabulin with Neulasta, the existing standard of care for CIN, makes the treatment better and more effective for patients,” Dr. Douglas Blayney, global principal investigator for BeyondSpring’s CIN development program and Prof. of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
“We can say that the Plinabulin-Neulasta combination creates added benefits that are not seen with Neulasta used alone,” he added. “Together these data provide additional rationale for the Plinabulin-Neulasta combination to treat CIN.”
