Loading
Cachexia-directed therapy treats cancer wasting by blocking GDF-15, a hormone that rises in advanced cancer and acts on the brainstem to suppress appetite. Pfizer's antibody ponsegromab improved weight in a phase 2 trial and is in phase 2/3 in pancreatic cancer cachexia; whether weight gain translates into function is the open question.
GDF-15 rises in advanced cancer and acts on the brainstem to suppress appetite. Pfizer's ponsegromab, a GDF-15 antibody, improved weight in a phase 2 in patients with elevated GDF-15 (NCT05546476, completed) and has moved into a phase 2/3 programme in pancreatic cancer-associated cachexia (NCT06989437, recruiting since October 2025), with a further lung cancer study planned (NCT07663630). Cachexia has no approved disease-modifying therapy, so a positive phase 3 would be a first.
Neutralising circulating GDF-15 removes the anorexigenic signal at the GFRAL receptor in the hindbrain, restoring appetite and lean mass.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"Cachexia-directed therapy" OR ABSTRACT:"Cachexia-directed therapy" OR TITLE:"GDF-15 blockade" OR ABSTRACT:"GDF-15 blockade") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Cachexia-directed therapy (GDF-15 blockade), not a curated reading list.
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tags frontier, promising.
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tags frontier, promising.
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tags frontier, promising.
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tags frontier, promising.
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tags frontier, promising.
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tags frontier, promising.
Shares Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the tags frontier, promising.
Shares Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035, Diet, exercise and lifestyle roadmap: causes established → interventions that disappointed → exercise proven as treatment and the tags frontier, promising.