The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Halaven (eribulin mesylate), a type of chemotherapy, for the treatment of liposarcoma (a specific type of soft tissue sarcoma) that cannot be removed by surgery (unresectable) or is advanced (metastatic). This treatment is approved for patients who received prior chemotherapy that contained an anthracycline drug.
“Halaven is the first drug approved for patients with liposarcoma that has demonstrated an improvement in survival time,” said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The clinical trial data the FDA reviewed indicates that Halaven increased overall survival by approximately seven months, offering patients a clinically meaningful drug.”
Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) is a disease in which cancer cells form in the soft tissues of the body, including the muscles, tendons, fat, blood vessels, lymph vessels, nerves and tissues around joints. Liposarcoma is a specific type of STS that occurs in fat cells. STS can form almost anywhere in the body, but is most common in the head, neck, arms, legs, trunk and abdomen. In 2014, an estimated 12,000 cases of STS were diagnosed in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The efficacy and safety of Halaven were evaluated in 143 clinical trial participants with advanced liposarcoma that was unresectable or had spread to nearby lymph nodes (locally advanced) or other parts of the body (metastatic), and who had been treated with chemotherapy. Participants were treated with either Halaven or another chemotherapy drug called dacarbazine until their disease spread or until they were no longer able to tolerate the side effects of treatment. The study was designed to measure the length of time from the start of treatment until a patient’s death (overall survival). The median overall survival for patients with liposarcoma receiving Halaven was 15.6 months compared to 8.4 months for those who received dacarbazine.
The most common side effects among participants treated with Halaven were fatigue, nausea, hair loss (alopecia), constipation, certain nerve damage causing weakness or numbness in the hands and feet (peripheral neuropathy), abdominal pain and fever (pyrexia). Halaven may also cause low levels of infection-fighting white blood cells (neutropenia) or decreased levels of potassium or calcium.
Serious side effects from treatment with Halaven may include a decrease in white blood cell count, which can increase the risk of serious infections that could lead to death; numbness, tingling or burning in the hands and feet (neuropathy); harm to a developing fetus; as well as changes in heartbeat (QTc prolongation), that may also lead to death.
The FDA granted the Halaven application priority review status, intended to facilitate and expedite the development and review of certain drugs in light of their potential to benefit patients with serious or life-threatening conditions. Halaven also received orphan drug designation, which provides incentives such as tax credits, user fee waivers, and eligibility for exclusivity to assist and encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases.
