Here's
what the WSJ had to say about retinoids when Vesanoid was approved:
11/29/95 FDA Clears Roche's New Vitamin A-Based Cancer Drug
By Elyse Tanouye Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
The first of a new class of weapons against cancer was approved
for market by the Food and Drug Administration. The new weapons
are all chemical derivatives of vitamin A that have the unique
ability to turn cancerous cells into normal ones. Once the cells
are normal, they progress to a natural death. The first of
these retinoids, as the drugs are called, to be approved as a
cancer treatment is Roche Holding Ltd.'s Vesanoid brand of
tretinoin. The FDA approved Vesanoid for use against a rare form
of leukemia, acute promyelocytic leukemia. But retinoids are
also showing promise in tests to prevent more common cancers
such as breast and ovarian cancers, according to Reuben Lotan,
associate vice president of the tumor biology department at the
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Americans so
far are familiar with retinoids as prescription acne treatments.
These include Roche's Accutane and Johnson & Johnson's Retin-A.
Roche's Accutane is being studied at M.D. Anderson for possible
prevention of new tumors in lung, head and neck cancers in
patients who have already had the cancers, said Waun Ki Hong, a
researcher at M.D. Anderson. Edward Schnipper, Roche vice
president of clinical operations for virology, added that the
company has "a very large program" looking at other retinoids
for cancer. Italian researchers are investigating a Johnson &
Johnson retinoid, called fenretinide, for treating and possibly
preventing ovarian, breast and prostate cancers. |
