According to a new data presented by Eli Lilly and Company at the 29th annual European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Vienna, Austria, the advanced lung cancer patients can look forward to better-quality survival when treated with Alimta (pemetrexed), a newly approved anticancer agent in the European Union compared with Taxotere (docetaxel).

"Patients suffer from two things, the cancer and chemotherapy side effects. They do not want to live their lives from doctors' clinics or hospital beds that's what makes these data so meaningful," said Jean-Louis Pujol, head of the department of thoracic oncology, Montpellier Academic Hospital, France.

The results were gathered from a phase III global clinical trial that showed Alimta provided survival comparable to that of Taxotere, the only other drug approved in this patient population, but with a more favourable side-effect profile in previously treated patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

A retrospective analysis of these data was introduced to measure the toxicity-free survival of the two therapies. Grade 4 toxicity-free survival time was measured from the time between a patient's trial enrolment date to the first recorded date of any Grade 4 toxicity or death. Alimta showed a Grade 4 toxicity-free survival time that was significantly better than Taxotere (median 7.5 versus 2.3 months, respectively). This means that patients treated with Alimta benefited from more time without life-threatening side effects than those treated with Taxotere - a three-fold improvement. This difference was statistically significant, Eli Lilly says in the release.

"Physicians closely monitor for Grade 4 haematological toxicities when treating advanced lung cancer patients because these side effects can easily lead to life-threatening events such as infections or haemorrhages," Pujol said adding, "It is clear that Alimta offers a positive perspective on cancer therapy- challenging the belief that critical side effects are the 'physical' price that must be paid for efficacy."

In the study, the main contributor to Grade 4 toxicities was neutropenia, which is a decrease in infection-fighting white blood cells that can lead to infection, with 1.9 per cent of Alimta patients versus 31.5 per cent of Taxotere patients being affected.

In September 2004, Alimta was approved by the European Commission for two distinct cancer indications. Alimta was approved as a single-agent therapy for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer after previous chemotherapy. Alimta was also approved in combination with cisplatin, a common chemotherapy agent, for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer in the lining of the lungs, for patients who have not received prior chemotherapy and are not candidates for surgery, the release added.

According to the 2003 World Health Organization Cancer Report, lung cancer is the world's most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. There will be 1.2 million cases diagnosed this year around the world.