Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33382205›Full record

ArticleJournal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle2021

The regulatory approval of anamorelin for treatment of cachexia in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colorectal cancer in Japan: facts and numbers.

Hidetaka Wakabayashi, Hidenori Arai, Akio Inui

Open access · goldAbstract readEditorial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 97 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
97citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
11.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

97 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 156 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Cancer- and cardiac-induced cachexia: same fate through different inflammatory mediators?Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2022
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  11. The effects of tissue inflammation on cancer cachexia.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Molecular basis of disease · 2026
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  12. Predictors of the early discontinuation of anamorelin hydrochloride in gastrointestinal cancer-related cachexia: a multicenter retrospective cohort study (HGCSG2201).Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
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37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Hidetaka WakabayashiDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital, 8-1, Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-0364-0818
Hidenori AraiNational Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan.
Akio InuiPharmacological Department of Herbal Medicine, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical & Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.
Kagoshima University · JPNational Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology · JPTokyo Women's Medical University Hospital · JP

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Anamorelin is a ghrelin receptor agonist that can be administered orally and thought to improve cancer cachexia by improving appetite and increasing serum insulin-like growth factor-1. Anamorelin was not approved for use in Europe. In contrast, the use of anamorelin for cancer cachexia in four types of cancer (non-small cell lung cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colorectal cancer) was approved in Japan on 11 December 2020. Phase 2 trial (ONO-7643-04) for the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and cachexia resulted in 1.56 kg lean body mass increase assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Another study for advanced and unresectable gastrointestinal (colorectal, gastric, or pancreatic) cancer showed 1.89 ± 0.36 kg improvement in lean body mass. Skeletal lean body mass assessed by DXA is important for diagnosing sarcopenia and cachexia in Asia. The approval of anamorelin is expected to change clinical practice of cancer cachexia in Japan and hopefully in other countries. In the past, cachexia was rarely diagnosed in Japan, because it was often thought that cachexia meant terminal stage. The dissemination of clinical findings on anamorelin from Japan, as well as the creation of consensus papers and clinical practice guidelines for cachexia in Japan and Asia, will be required to promote international expansion in the future.

Indexed as

CachexiaCarcinoma, Non-Small-Cell LungColorectal NeoplasmsLung NeoplasmsPancreatic NeoplasmsClinical Trials, Phase II as TopicHumansHydrazinesJapanOligopeptidesanamorelinHydrazinesOligopeptides

Identifiers

PMID33382205
PMCPMC7890143
OpenAlexW3115452618

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.