Protein-bound paclitaxel, also known as

nanoparticle A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is a particle of matter 1 to 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 100 nm in only two directions. At ...

albumin–bound paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel, is an

injectable An injection (often and usually referred to as a "shot" in US English, a "jab" in UK English, or a "jag" in Scottish English and Scots) is the act of administering a liquid, especially a drug, into a person's body using a needle (usually a hyp ...

formulation of

paclitaxel Paclitaxel, sold under the brand name Taxol among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, cervical cancer, and pancreatic cancer. It is administered b ...

used to treat

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

and

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

, among others. Paclitaxel kills cancer cells by preventing the normal breakdown of

microtubule Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nanometer, nm and have an inner diameter bet ...

s during cell division. In this formulation, paclitaxel is bonded to

albumin Albumin is a family of globular proteins, the most common of which are the serum albumins. All of the proteins of the albumin family are water- soluble, moderately soluble in concentrated salt solutions, and experience heat denaturation. Alb ...

as a delivery vehicle. It is manufactured and sold in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Celgene Celgene Corporation, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, was a pharmaceutical company that produced cancer and immunology drugs. Its primary products were Revlimid (lenalidomide), which is used in the treatment of multiple myeloma (63% of 2018 r ...

under the trade name Abraxane where it is designated as an

orphan drug An orphan drug is a medication, pharmaceutical agent that is developed to treat certain rare medical conditions. An orphan drug would not be profitable to produce without government assistance, due to the small population of patients affected by th ...

as first-line treatment, in combination with

gemcitabine Gemcitabine, sold under the brand name Gemzar, among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat cancers. It is used to treat testicular cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and bladder ca ...

, for the

orphan disease A rare disease is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. In some parts of the world, the term orphan disease describes a rare disease whose rarity results in little or no funding or research for treatments, without financi ...

"metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas". This treatment was approved in the United States in 2005, and the European Union in 2008, for

cases where cancer did not respond to other

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

or has relapsed. In 2012, the FDA widened the approved uses to include treatment for NSCLC. In 2013, the FDA approved protein-bound paclitaxel for use in treating advanced

as a less toxic (although less effective) alternative to

FOLFIRINOX FOLFIRINOX is a chemotherapy regimen for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. It is made up of the following four drugs: * FOL – folinic acid (leucovorin), a vitamin B derivative that enhances the effects of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU); * F – ...

Society and culture

Abraxane is registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods for the treatment of metastatic carcinoma of the breast after failure of

anthracycline Anthracyclines are a class of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy that are extracted from '' Streptomyces peucetius'' bacterium. These compounds are used to treat many cancers, including leukemias, lymphomas, breast, stomach, uterine, ovarian, b ...

therapy. Abraxane is also included on the Schedule of the Australian

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is a program of the Australian Government that subsidises prescription medication for Australian citizens and permanent residents, as well as international visitors covered by a reciprocal health car ...

although the manufacturer was unable to convince the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee that the drug warranted a higher price than existing comparator drugs. Protein-bound paclitaxel was developed by VivoRx which became

Abraxis BioScience Abraxis BioScience was a global biopharmaceutical, and nano-medicine company that developed treatments for critically ill patients. It had over 2000 employees worldwide in 2007. Abraxis's portfolio included the world's first protein-based nanop ...

as the first in its class of drugs to use the nanoparticle albumin bound (nab) technology platform. In 2010, Abraxis was acquired by

, which now markets Abraxane. Total revenue from the sales of Abraxane for 2009 were $314.5 million. In 2013, Abraxane was FDA approved for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. In 2014, Abraxane's sales were $848 million, 31 percent year-over-year increase. In 2019 Bristol Meyers Squibb acquired Celgene for $74 billion dollars, and thus acquired Abraxis Bioscience and the rights to manufacture and market Abraxane. The UK's

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care (United Kingdom), Department of Health and Social Care. As the national health technolog ...

(NICE) announced in 2015, that it would not support the routine use of protein-bound paclitaxel in advanced pancreatic cancer on the NHS. However, this decision was changed in September 2017. It has continued to be reimbursed in England since then, despite questionable real world effectiveness.

Society and culture

References

Further reading