mTOR inhibitor
Isotechnica announced a couple of days ago, that they are starting the development of a new drug in the mTOR inhibitor class (a Rapamune analogue).
In order to gain some interest ahead of ASCO Ariad told the world as follows this morning:
ARIAD Announces Major Advances in Development of its Lead Cancer Product Candidate, AP23573
Friday May 30, 7:30 am ET
Reported at the American Society for Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 30, 2003--ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARIA - News) today announced, for the first time, results of comprehensive in vivo studies of AP23573, its lead cancer product candidate which is in Phase 1 clinical trials. AP23573 was highly effective in animal models of human solid tumors: treatment initiated at an early stage of tumor growth induced persistent tumor regression of up to 90%, and treatment at a later more-aggressive stage still produced significant reductions in the rate of growth of all six tumor types studied (i.e., brain, prostate, breast, pancreas, lung, and colon cancers).
The research also demonstrated that the anti-cancer activity of three widely used chemotherapy drugs was markedly enhanced by combined treatment with AP23573, supporting the use of AP23573 in multi-drug regimens that can be tailored to treat specific cancers.
The small-molecule, AP23573, was designed to have broad clinical applications in solid tumors and other malignancies by inhibiting the protein mTOR leading to shrinking of tumors by a novel mode of action - cancer-cell starvation (metabolic arrest) through inhibition of nutrient uptake to tumor cells, as well as inhibition of growth factor stimulation. AP23573 can be administered orally or by injection.
Etc....
Things start to get confusing. Is this drug supposed to suppress the immune system or is it a cancer fighter? Incidentally immunosupression is not something one would normally like to see in a cancer drug, if one subscribes to the theory that the immune system actually takes care of a lot of cancer cells.
If Ariad's drug doesn't work in cancer they might turn to transplantation.
Anyhow, the following URL gives some background on the mother of all mTOR inhibitors - Rapamune (named after Easter Island).
sehgal.net
Which little story also confirms that the use of the drug has been considered both as an immunosuppressor as well as an oncology drug.
Erik |
