Nevada Cancer Institute Begins First-in-Human Clinical Trial
Trial is Seventh First-in-Human Trial for the Institute
Contact: Jennifer McDonnell, (702) 821-0082 jmcdonnell@nvcancer.org
Alison Monaghan, (702) 737-3100 amonaghan@kirvindoak.com
LAS VEGAS, NEV. June 16, 2008 – Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI) made medical history recently by launching a first-in-man clinical trial that focuses on a previously unidentified protein found on many kidney cancer cells.
Sponsored by Medarex, the treatment introduces a non-fucosylated fully human antibody that binds to the CD70 protein, where it is expected to trigger recognition by the body’s immune system and kill those cancer cells. The study is designed to help evaluate the appropriate dose of the antibody.
Las Vegas resident Randy Irwin is the first patient in the world to partake in the trial. NVCI is one of three sites where the clinical trial is currently available. Other sites include Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Portland Providence Medical Center in Oregon.
Diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma in 2005, Irwin began treatment in Louisville, KY, where he lived at the time. Doctors there recommended that he have his right kidney removed to prevent further cancer spread. The procedure was a success, and Irwin was pronounced cancer free.
When Irwin and his family moved to Las Vegas in 2006, his oncologist referred him to Nicholas Vogelzang, M.D., director of NVCI, for continued monitoring. During a routine check-up in 2006, a recurrence of the kidney cancer was discovered in his abdomen. The cancer has been controlled by a variety therapies during the past two years but has recently begun to regrow.
“I am excited about this new treatment, being it hasn’t been tried on anybody else,” Irwin said. “Of course, I am apprehensive that no one else has tried it, that nobody has come before me.
“If it does work and does do what it is supposed to do, it makes me proud that I was able to help others along the way.”
The therapy is given intravenously. Irwin will continue to receive the therapy and will be under constant supervision by the staff and his oncologists.
“This is a groundbreaking trial so the level of excitement is very high,” Wolfram Samlowski, M.D., NVCI chief, Section of Melanoma, Renal Cancer and Immunotherapy said. “Although the trial is very preliminary, we feel that the protein targeted is very important in the treatment of some types of cancers, including kidney cancer.”
Irwin has tried and benefited from standard therapies for renal cancer and he has participated in prior renal cancer clinical trials.
The clinical trial is just the latest example of how NVCI continues to advance the boundaries of medicine in Nevada through its research-based clinical care. In less than three years NVCI has opened 88 clinical trials, Phase I, I/II and III, of which seven have been first-in-human.
As of March 2008, 13.5% of NVCI cancer patients have enrolled in the clinical trials program. Nationally, only about three percent of adult cancer patients participate in clinical research studies (Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups, 2006).
“We’ve been very fortunate to attract some of the major new drugs that are being developed in the United States and the world,” said Dr. Vogelzang. “By bringing new therapies like the Medarex trial to NVCI, we are allowing Nevadans to access the latest in cancer treatment in their hometown.”
Drs. Vogelzang and Samlowski each have more than 25 and 30 years of experience, respectively, in renal cancer clinical research, along with other types of cancer.
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