science

Olaratumab

Olaratumab is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olaratumab rather than just read about it. In short: Olaratumab, sold under the brand name Lartruvo, is a monoclonal antibody medication developed by Eli Lilly and Company for the treatment of solid tumors. It is directed against the platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha.

Key takeaways

Olaratumab belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olaratumab to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olaratumab from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Olaratumab, sold under the brand name Lartruvo, is a monoclonal antibody medication developed by Eli Lilly and Company for the treatment of solid tumors. It is directed against the platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha. It was removed from the United States and European Union markets in 2019, due to insufficient proof of its medical advantage (see below "Medical uses").

Medical uses Olaratumab is used in combination with doxorubicin for the treatment of adults with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) who cannot be cured by cancer surgery or radiation therapy, and who have not been previously treated with doxorubicin. In a randomised controlled trial with 133 STS patients, olaratumab plus doxorubicin improved the median of progression-free survival from 4.1 to 6.6 months as compared to doxorubicin alone (p = 0.0615, narrowly missing statistical significance), and overall survival from 14.7 to 26.5 months (p = 0.0003, highly significant). However, the ANNOUNCE phase 3 trial did not find any advantage in adding olaratumab to doxorubicin. Therefore, in January 2019, FDA and EMA decided to recommend against starting olaratumab for soft tissue sarcoma. In April 2019 the European Medicines Agency explicitly requested the marketing authorisation of the medicine to be revoked. Shortly afterwards the German Physician's Medicines Commission reported that olaratumab will be removed from the German market "in a few weeks" and asked doctors not to treat new patients with this drug outside of clinical trials. Lilly subsequently voluntarily withdrew its approval in the United States.

Contraindications The drug has no contraindications apart from hypersensitivity reactions.

Side effects In studies, the most serious side effects of the combination olaratumab/doxorubicin were neutropenia (low count of neutrophil white blood cells) with a severity of grade 3 or 4 in 55% of patients, and musculoskeletal pain grade 3 or 4 in 8% of patients. Common milder side effects were lymphopenia, headache, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, mucositis, and reactions at the infusion site; all typical effects of cancer therapies.

Interactions No pharmacokinetic interactions with doxorubicin were observed in studies. Being a monoclonal antibody, olaratumab is neither metabolised by cytochrome P450 liver enzymes nor transported by transmembrane pumps, and is thus not expected to interact relevantly with other drugs.

Pharmacology

Mechanism of action Olaratumab inhibits growth of tumour cells by blocking subunit alpha of the platelet-derived growth factor receptor, a type of tyrosine kinase.

Pharmacokinetics After intravenous infusion, olaratumab has a volume of distribution of 7.7 litres in steady state and a biological half-life of 11 days.

History Olaratumab was originally developed by ImClone Systems, which was acquired by Eli Lilly in 2008. A Phase I clinical trial was conducted in Japanese patients in September 2010, followed by a Phase II trial in 133 patients, starting in October 2010. In February 2015, the European Medicines Agency assigned olaratumab orphan drug status for the treatment of soft-tissue sarcoma. The European Commission granted a conditional marketing authorisation, based on the mentioned Phase II study, valid throughout the European Union on 9 November 2016. Previously considered a promising drug, the FDA granted olaratumab fast track designation, breakthrough therapy designation and priority review status. In October 2016, the US FDA issued an accelerated approval notice for use of olaratumab with doxorubicin to treat adults with certain types of soft-tissue sarcoma, based on the same study. A phase III trial completed in 2019, and unfortunately showed no benefit from the addition of olaratumab to doxorubicin. As noted above, these results led to withdrawal of approval in the United States and Europe.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olaratumab

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olaratumab claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olaratumab before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olaratumab ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olaratumab

In research: Olaratumab appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olaratumab in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olaratumab is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Drugs developed by Eli Lilly and Company, Monoclonal antibodies for tumors, Orphan drugs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olaratumab outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Olaratumab” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Olaratumab in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olaratumab means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olaratumab out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olaratumab in simple terms?

Why does Olaratumab matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olaratumab?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olaratumab.