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Anorexia and cachexia (wasting) are a major source of morbidity and mortality in cancer, but few treatment options exist.
The ghrelin receptor stimulates appetite and muscle mass increase. In two phase III trials, researchers tested anamorelin, a ghrelin-receptor agonist, in patients with stage 3 or 4 non-small cell lung cancer and cachexia (n=979).
At 12 weeks, lean body mass increased by a median of 0.99kg in the anamorelin group compared with a loss of 0.47kg in the placebo group. In the second trial, the change in lean body mass was 0.65kg vs -0.98kg, respectively. In both trials, there were improvements in overall body weight and cachexia-symptom scores in anamorelin-treated patients.
Reporting in The
Lancet Oncology (online, 19 February 2016)[1]
, the researchers say that anamorelin could fulfil an unmet need for anorexia and cachexia treatments.
References
[1] Temel JS, Abernethy AP, Currow DC et al. Anamorelin in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer and cachexia (ROMANA 1 and ROMANA 2): results from two randomised, double-blind, phase III trials. The Lancet Oncology 2016. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00558-6
