FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saladax Biomedical, Inc. Announces Presentation of CEPAC-TDM Study of
Paclitaxel in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer at 2015 ASCO Meeting
Large Study Confirms the Benefit to Patients of Advanced Dosing Method for
Chemotherapy
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- June 8, 2015 Saladax Biomedical, Inc. recently presented results from
the largest, randomized, prospective dose adjustment-therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) trial
ever conducted in oncology: evaluating 304 patients over six years (abstract # 8051). The Central
European Society for Anticancer Research (CESAR) Study of Paclitaxel Therapeutic Drug
Monitoring (CEPAC-TDM) phase III study in patients with advanced Non-Small Cell Lung
Cancer (NSCLC) (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01326767) compared two different methods
of dosing paclitaxel: one arm with dose optimization [pharmacokinetically (PK)-guided] to
another arm with standard dosing. The results were presented at the American Society of Clinical
Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2015 taking place in Chicago, Illinois. The presentation is
available on the Saladax website at www.saladax.com.
CEPAC-TDM was a study of paclitaxel (PTX) dosing in NSCLC patients receiving PTX in
combination with carboplatin on a 3-weekly schedule. Standard dosing of chemotherapy does
not account for the many differences between patients that make drug exposure highly variable,
and variability of exposure can lead to severe toxicity and/or shorter survival.
Patients with advanced NSCLC receiving PTX/carboplatin chemotherapy were enrolled at nine
German and one Swiss institution. In the PK-guided arm the majority of patients saw a
significant reduction in the dose with fewer toxic side effects and the same survival as the
standard arm. This well controlled, randomized study showed that using PK-guided dosing with
3-weekly PTX in NSCLC patients, results in a clinically significant reduction of both
neutropenia and neuropathy compared to standard dosing. The reduction in neuropathy is
particularly important because there are no known effective therapies to treat or prevent this
often debilitating side effect. The lower average PTX doses only reduced toxicity and did not
reduce efficacy, confirming the value of PK-guided dosing with chemotherapy patients.
At the same conference, interim results from a similar randomized study in NSCLC
(ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02058433) reported from Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital in
China revealed comparable findings, further demonstrating the value of PK-guided dosing
(abstract # 8052).
About Saladax Biomedical, Inc.: Saladax Biomedical is a leader in the development high-value
diagnostic services and products. Products that deliver actionable data to help physicians select
and optimize the use of current and new pharmaceutical products to improve health and
positively impact the economics of care: diagnostics that make a difference. Headquartered in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Saladax was founded in 2004 and is ISO 13485:2003 certified. For
more information visit: www.saladax.com.
Saladax Contact:
Salvatore Salamone, Ph.D.
Phone: 610-419-6731
Email: ssalamone@saladax.com