>>AUSTIN, Texas, May 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INGN - News) announced today that INGN 241, its mda-7 gene drug, demonstrated safety and the ability to kill cancer cells in patients with advanced cancer, with administration of a single dose. Results from a Phase 1 dose escalation study in solid tumors were presented recently at the 38th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, FL.
"The interim analysis of Introgen's first clinical trial with INGN 241 is exciting in that it shows selective therapeutic effects on cancer cells while sparing normal cells," said Keith Coffee, M.D., Ph.D., Introgen's director of clinical sciences and presenter of these data at the conference. "This study was designed to evaluate pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and safety parameters associated with administration of this new gene therapeutic, which in preclinical studies demonstrated both tumor suppressor and cytokine-like actions. Our finding of selective, drug induced apoptosis with one dose, coupled with a lack of systemic toxicity, is very encouraging for clinical development."
In the phase 1 trial, patients with solid tumors received one dose of INGN 241, which contains the gene to make the cancer killing MDA-7 protein, injected directly into their tumor. Twenty-four hours to ninety-six hours after treatment, the tumor was removed and compared to pretreatment biopsies to detect how widely INGN 241 spread within the tumor, expression of the new MDA-7 protein, and the ability to induce cancer cell death. In all tumors analyzed, investigators noted increased expression of MDA-7 protein associated with programmed cell death, or apoptosis, which was observed in as much as 70 percent of the treated cancer cells.<<
Not expecting the stock to move much on this; too vague, too early. Maybe the abstract has some nuggets.
Cheers, Tuck |
