What the trial was testing
The trial enrolled 187 patients with pancreatic cancer. The study was sponsored by Pfizer and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was initial testing (phase 2). Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
Patients on the highest dose gained nearly 3 kilograms more than those on placebo.
The New England journal of medicine · 2024 · NCT05546476
These findings — that people on the highest dose gained about 6 pounds more than placebo — were published in the The New England journal of medicine and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 187 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with pancreatic cancer, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
This was an early-stage study and ponsegromab is not yet FDA-approved for cancer-related weight loss. The results are promising and may lead to future approval. If you're losing weight because of cancer, talk to your doctor about nutrition support options and whether there are open trials testing this treatment.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open pancreatic cancer trials
Study of IBI3028 in Participants With Locally Advanced, Unresectable, or Metastatic Solid Tumors
This is a phase 1 multi-center, open-label study evaluating IBI3028 Treatment in participants with locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic solid tumors
Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) and Two-Dimensional Endoscopic Ultrasound Guided Shear Wave Elastography (2D-SWE-EUS) in Differential Diagnosis of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PA) From Other Pancreatic Solid Lesions (PSLs) and Pancreatic neuroendocrinE Tumors (pNETs) Malignancy
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) is the most common tumor of the pancreas. Given its poor prognosis and the major therapeutic consequences, the discrimination between PA and other pancreatic solid lesions is mandatory. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is admitted as the most sensitive imaging procedure for the detection and characterization of pancreatic tumors. Over the past 30 years, EUS-guided tissue acquisition (EUS-TA), or more recently fine needle biopsy (EUS-FNB), has demonstrated its efficiency for tissue sampling and remains the gold standard for the pathologic diagnosis of pancreatic lesions. The assessment of pancreatic tumor enhancement using ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) in real time with imaging specific methods seems useful to improve their characterization either by contrast-enhanced EUS (CE-EUS) or, more recently, by contrast-harmonic EUS (CH-EUS). CH-EUS was already demonstrated useful to differentiate pancreatic adenocarcinoma from other pancreatic lesions. EUS-Elastography (EUS-E) is another EUS image enhancement technique, which rational based on the difference in elasticity between the tissues. There are two types of elastographies: strain elastography (SE) and shear wave elastography (SWE). SE has proved useful for the characterization of pancreatic lesions and lymph nodes. However, this technique was demonstrated difficult to perform with adequate accuracy and reproducibility for pancreatic lesions and have many limitations. In some recent publications SWE was demonstrated moderate reliability. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) are rare tumors, but according to the last epidemiological data, their incidence and prevalence are steadily rising. Surgical resection is generally performed for pNETs due to their malignant potential. However, with increasing use of high-resolution conventional imaging, the significant incidence of small (≤ 2 cm) pancreatic neuroendocrine incidentaloma (pNET) has risen in recent decades. EUS is recognized as the most sensitive procedure for the detection and characterization of pNETs. Overall sensitivity of EUS-TA for the diagnosis of pNETs is high, reaching 95.1% in recently published study, appearing higher in small lesions (≤ 20 mm) than in large lesions (\> 20 mm). The overall concordance rate for EUS-TA and surgical specimens grading varies from 58% to 86.4% and is higher for lesions ≤ 10 mm, 10-20 mm, comparing to lesions \> 20 mm. These results confirm the risk of under or over-grading of pNETs on the EUS-TA specimen, independently of the needle size which used for the TA. CH-EUS was also demonstrated accurate in the prediction of pNETs malignancy and useful for decision-making management of these tumors. Hypothesis Two new image enhancement EUS technologies were recently developed, able to assess precisely tumor microvascular density and the stiffness of pancreatic lesions, that is correlated to tumor's stroma fibrosis, and thus help to characterize and predict the malignancy, and accordingly, the management of the pancreatic solid lesions. It's particularly useful in overcoming EUS false-negative cases of PA and small pNETs malignancy diagnosis. Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) is a novel doppler technique that enhances the range of visible blood flow, by revealing low velocity microvascular flow, enabling the capture of a higher-quality microvascular flow images. Based on the same principle as CH-EUS, which assesses tumor microvascularization, this technique is expected to be also useful for the PSLs malignancy diagnosis. Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) relies on the properties of shear-wave propagation to offer an advanced assessment of their velocity