A first-line therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma.
An antibody that binds to the surface of neuroblastoma cells, and is approved as part of a multimodality regimen that may include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy for patients that have had at least a partial response to first-line multimodality therapy.
Specifically targets neuroblastoma, which occurs in approximately one in 100,000 children in the U.S. and is slightly more common in boys.
Patients diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma have a 40 to 50% chance of long-term survival.
In a clinical trial of 226 pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma whose tumors responded to treatment with chemotherapy and surgery as well as additional intensive chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation support, and radiation therapy received either oral isotretinoin or dinituximab in combination with interleukin-2 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor:.
In the above study 63% of participants that received Unituxin combination were alive and free of tumor growth or recurrence compared to 46% of participants that received Isoretinoin treatment alone.
Dinituximab can irritate nerve cells, causing severe pain and may require treatment with intravenous narcotics.
Can also cause nerve damage and life-threatening infusion site reactions, including upper airway swelling, difficulty breathing, and low blood pressure either during or after infusion.
Common side effects include: pain, fever, thrombocytopenia, infusion reactions, low blood pressure, hyponatremia, elevated liver enzymes, anemia, vomiting, diarrhea, hypokalemia , capillary leak syndrome, low white blood cell count, hives, and hypocalclemia.