This is too early for the thread (perhaps bookmark it for return in a few months) but interesting nevertheless.
biospace.com
OXiGENE (OXGN) Reports Interim Clinical Data For Combretastatin A4 Prodrug
OXiGENE Inc. (Nasdaq: OXGN; Stockholm: OXGN) announced today interim
results of a Phase I clinical trial for Combretastatin A4 Prodrug (CA4P). The study is being conducted in collaboration with the British Charity Organization, The Cancer Research Campaign, (The CRC), and was presented at the Angiogenesis '99 conference in London by Dr. Gordon Rustin, Director of the Department of Medical Oncology at Mount Vernon Hospital, United Kingdom and a co-investigator on the study. Dr. Rustin presented data showing that cancer patients treated with CA4P had significantly reduced blood flow in a dose-dependent manner to their tumors as measured by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This study is the first demonstration in human clinical trials of an inhibitor that blocks the flow of blood within tumor-associated blood vessels. The timing of the blood-flow shutdown in the patients was very similar to the timing of the shutdown observed in preclinical rodent studies of CA4P. These clinical results demonstrate a proof of principle with regard to CA4P's mode of action. CA4P is an anti-tumor vascular agent. It is one of a new class of anti-cancer therapies that act by attacking a tumor's blood supply. In vitro experiments have demonstrated CA4P's ability to change the shape and permeability of endothelial cells, the cells that line all blood vessels, particularly those cells that are in an actively proliferating state not unlike what is observed in tumor vasculature. It is these activities that are thought to constrict tumor-associated vessels thereby inhibiting blood flow to the tumor. CA4P is different from angiogenic inhibitors now in development in that it attacks pre-existent tumor vasculature. This is an activity not seen in anti-angiogenesis inhibitors currently in clinical trials. CA4P is currently in three Phase I clinical trials, one in the UK, and two in the US. "These interim results show that we can administer CA4P to humans safely at doses that cause a significant decrease in blood flow to tumors. In preclinical models, we have seen that CA4P displays similar activities as shown here in human clinical trials, extending to, and confirming its proof of principle in man as well as in animal models," said Bjorn Nordenvall, MD, President and CEO of OXiGENE. |
