Amigos and Amigas does someone control this product--this could possibly be a quite hot item---it was a headliner on Yahoo!----so someoe can you find a stock that is deep into Neovastat---
Health Headlines
Wednesday September 30 6:03 PM EDT
Angiogenesis inhibitor boosts cancer drugs
TORONTO, Sep 30 (Reuters) -- Early reports in both animal and clinical studies suggest that AE-941 (Neovastat), an
angiogenesis inhibitor derived from shark cartilage, enhances the efficacy of drugs used to fight cancer, according to a new
report. Researchers also say that the investigational agent reduces chemotherapy-related toxicity without adding significant
toxicity of its own.
At the joint meeting of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, the Canadian Society of Clinical Pharmacology and the
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Dr. Marc Riviere, vice-president of clinical affairs at Aeterna
Laboratories in Quebec City, Quebec, reported on tests of the drug in animal studies of lung cancer as well as results from
clinical studies of patients with lung and prostate cancer.
Neovastat is called an angiogenesis inhibitor because it prevents the formation of new blood vessels, a process critical to the
growth and spread of cancer, Riviere explained. He noted that the inhibitor -- given orally in liquid form -- has been extensively
tested in the mouse studies both alone and in combination with the cancer drug cisplatin.
Based on several hundred animal tests, the Quebec group showed that on its own, Neovastat in doses of 500 mg/kg led to a
69% reduction in the number of lung surface metastases, with no associated weight loss or mortality. ''In the same mouse
model, injection of cisplatin (3 mg/kg) resulted in a 54% reduction in the incidence of lung metastases,'' Riviere reported.
Cisplatin given in higher doses, both 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg, achieved greater reductions in lung metastases of 80% and 90%
respectively. But 7% of animals given the 5 mg/kg dose died and 27% of animals given the 10 mg dose died.
By combining oral Neovastat with low-dose cisplatin (3 mg/kg), however, ''...we saw an 83% reduction in lung metastases,
with none of the animals dying, which suggests that Neovastat enhances the anti-metastatic activity of cisplatin,'' Riviere told
Reuters Health. All studies were done at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal and involved at least 15 animals per
group.
Preliminary safety data from trials in advanced lung and prostate cancer also support the lack of serious toxicity associated with
Neovastat use. Riviere reported that preliminary results of a study in a group of 77 patients with advanced metastatic disease
taking a high dose of the drug suggest a similar safety profile to that seen in animals after 3 months of Neovastat use. And the
drug appears to have slowed progression of cancer in these patients.
''These patients all had advanced disease and we did not expect to see a reduction in tumor size as there was no chemotherapy
left for them,'' Riviere said.
There was also a significant difference in analgesic consumption between those on high dose versus lower dose Neovastat.
Fewer patients on high-dose Neovastat had to increase their morphine intake over the study interval compared with those on
lower doses, who required increasing amounts of morphine.
Studies using Neovastat in lung, prostate, and breast cancer are currently on-going in the US and Canada, with results from the
advanced lung cancer trial expected by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the National Cancer Institute recently announced it
would sponsor two trials using Neovastat in combination with standard anti-cancer treatment, one in patients with
non-small-cell lung cancer and the second in either breast, prostate, or colon cancer patients.
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