Rafael G. Amado

Rafael G. Amado, M.D., Executive Director,Oncology Therapeutics, Amgen Inc.

That started the hunt to identify patients that weren't responding, said Rafael Amado, Amgen's executive director of oncology therapeutics and global development leader for the drug, Vectibix.

It took some scientific sleuthing to determine where the mutation happened in the process the body uses to make proteins that make up cells. But once the mutation was examined â€" it's called a KRAS mutation and is known to be mutated in about 40 percent of colorectal cancer patients â€" it became pretty clear that only tumors without that mutation responded to the drug.

"This is a pretty exciting area of biology," Amado said.

He anticipates that testing for the mutation will become the standard of care for Vectibix treatment.
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In the United States, the process is more involved, but Amado expects the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve diagnostic tests to determine if Vectibix will help.