Amgen to present new cancer drug data at ASCO 2013

Amgen has announced that it will be attending the forthcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, where it will discuss new data on a number of innovative compounds.

During the conference – which runs from May 31st to June 4th 2013 – the company will present three new analyses studying the use of its approved cancer drug Vectibix in combination with chemotherapy as a treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer.

The firm will also showcase early-stage data on its acute lymphoblastic leukaemia therapy blinatumomab and study results evaluating talimogene laherparepvec as an anti-melanoma agent.

Dr Sean Harper, executive vice-president of research and development at Amgen, said: "The data that we are presenting at ASCO demonstrate great progress with our effort to develop treatments that will help patients with advanced cancers."

Earlier this month, the company announced positive data from a phase III Vectibix study that demonstrated the product's efficacy in improving overall survival rates among chemorefractory metastatic colorectal cancer patients with wild-type KRAS tumours.