Johnson and Johnson praises CellSearch System

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has praised its circulating tumour cell (CTC) test for monitoring metastatic prostate cancer (MPC) patients.

Dr Nick Vogelzang, of the Nevada Cancer Institute in the US, highlighted research which compared the CellSearch System’s CTC test results to the standard clinical and biomedical parameters like prostate specific antigen measured in MPC patients.

He confirmed: “A decrease in the number of CTCs is most often associated with patients successfully responding to therapy. Further analysis of CTCs may provide information as to the most efficacious treatments for specific individuals.”

Dr Vogelzang’s comments arrive after the US Food and Drug Administration granted an expanded clearance for the CellSearch System to be used as an aid in the monitoring of MPC patients.

The system is already cleared for monitoring in metastatic breast and metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

Dr Louis Fink, also of the Nevada Cancer Institute, expressed the company’s delight in being able to offer the test to patients with MPC.

He added that the J&J had been evaluating the clinical utility of the CellSearch System in patients with MPC since January 2007 and researchers had found that a strong indication that the baseline number of CTC is prognostic and that the number of prostate CTCs is altered by therapy.

Also this week, J&J dismissed new study results that suggest its anaemia drugs raise the risk of death among cancer patients by around ten per cent.