SUGN's anti-cancer drug to be featured on 60 Minutes April 4th.
RESEARCHERS AT UCLA's JONSSON CANCER CENTER LAUNCH
NEW EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT FOR ADVANCED COLON
CANCER USING AN ANGIOGENESIS INHIBITOR
Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center today are launching a new experimental treatment for advanced colon cancer, using a drug thought to attack tumors by cutting off their blood supply. UCLA is the only site worldwide offering this experimental treatment for colon cancer, researchers said.
A solid tumor cannot grow beyond the size of a pinhead unless it has an independent blood supply to deliver the oxygen and nutrients a malignancy needs to advance and spread. To feed itself, a tumor develops its own blood supply, a process called angiogenesis. Researchers hope this experimental drug works by interrupting that
process, thereby cutting off the blood supply to the tumor and, hopefully, killing it.
These types of drugs, called angiogenesis inhibitors, garnered worldwide media attention last spring after they cured cancer in mice. However, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center already has begun testing an angiogenesis inhibitor, called SU5416, on people.
In this new study, UCLA researchers will use SU5416 in combination with the standard chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer, 5-FU (5 fluorouracil) and leucovorin. Researchers already have determined that SU5416 is safe for humans. This new study will take the drug a step further, testing it for possible interactions with other drugs, said
Dr. Lee Rosen, principal investigator and head of UCLA's Cancer Therapy Development Program.
Rosen led the previous SU5416 study, which tested the drug on patients with a variety of advanced cancers. About 70 people participated in that Phase I study, which ended in December 1998.
“Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers in this country and it's been treated the same way for 40 years,” Rosen said. “We want to come up with new and better ways to treat this cancer.”
Rosen said he's optimistic about this experimental treatment, based on results from the previous SU5416 study. The previous study, and some of its patients, will be chronicled in a rare two-segment piece on “60 Minutes,” scheduled to air April 4, 1999.
“Because of some encouraging results, we're going forward to see how this drug works on specific diseases such as colon cancer,” Rosen said. “One of the questions we need to ask is what will this drug do when we add it to traditional chemotherapy. We hope it will make the existing treatment much better.”
SU5416 is manufactured by SUGEN Inc., a South San Francisco-based biotechnology firm. In January, SUGEN announced plans to accelerate development of SU5416, testing it on colon and lung cancers. SU5416 also is being tested on AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma at UCLA and other sites.
|
