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Patent filed for breakthrough technology
IGT Pharma Inc IGT
Shares issued 6,581,332 Jun 20 close $0.82
Mon 23 Jun 97 News Release
Mr Bruce Schmidt reports
The company has successfully filed a new patent application relating to the
production of the internationally marketed cancer drug, Etoposide. Used
alone and in combination with other drugs, Etoposide has proved to be one
of the most effective tools to treat solid tumors relating to many
conditions including cancers of the lung, bladder and brain as well as
Kaposi's sarcoma, associated with AIDS. Etoposide sales are estimated to be
several hundred million dollars per year.
The source material for Etoposide, a generic compound marketed by leading
companies, is currently extracted from the roots of the mandrake plant
grown in sub-tropical areas of the world. This costly process, in practice
for decades, involves the use of various solvents to release the basic
starting material from the tissues of the plant. Until now, there has been
no known alternative method of production for this important drug. The
obvious benefits to this technical breakthrough include the elimination of
harvesting of plant materials, cost reduction, consistency of supply and a
new standard of purity.
The company's patented process uses only commonly available starting
materials to accurately reproduce the material that is now derived from
plants. This comparatively simple yet novel chemical process, requiring
only standard laboratory facilities, was developed by the company in
collaboration with UBC and the NRC.
Concurrent with the scaling up of production batch sizes, the company will
proceed with industry discussions leading to the licencing or partnering of
this technology with a major generic drug company. Initial discussions are
under way at this time.
The company recently announced that its new lead drug, Anhydrovinblastine,
will be soon entering human clinical trials for non small cell lung cancer,
the cancer most commonly related to smoking. |
