Schering's Caelyx superior in ovarian cancer trial

* Caelyx shown to delay worsening of symptoms

* Causes less nerve pain, hair loss, than standard drugs

By Ransdell Pierson

NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - Schering-Plough Corp's SGP.N drug Caelyx delayed progression of symptoms among patients with advanced ovarian cancer in a late-stage study, compared with standard treatment, and with milder side effects, researchers said on Saturday.

The trial, called Calypso, involved 976 patients whose cancer had relapsed more than 6 months after previous treatment with platinum-based drugs.

One group received the current standard therapy for advanced ovarian cancer, a combination of the chemotherapy agents carboplatin and paclitaxel. Another group received carboplatin and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, an approved drug for ovarian cancer sold overseas as Caelyx by Schering-Plough and marketed in the United States as Doxil by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Symptoms did not worsen for patients in the Caelyx group for 11.3 months, which was better by a statistically significant margin than the 9.4 months for those receiving standard therapy.

Moreover, only 4 percent of those receiving the Caelyx regimen had peripheral neuropathy -- nerve numbing or pain in the extremities -- compared with 27 percent of those receiving standard treatment. Seven percent taking Caelyx had hair loss, compared with 84 percent on the standard combination.

"Based on its better tolerability and progression-free survival advantage, the combination of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin and carboplatin should be a preferred therapeutic option for patients" with relapsed ovarian cancer, said Dr. Eric Pujade-Lauraine, a professor at the Universite de Paris Descartes.