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To: john who wrote (10952)	10/4/1999 9:09:00 AM
From: SSP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 150070

OXGN - good news - Doctors encouraged by early tests of cancer drug By Patricia Reaney LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Preliminary results of the first human trials of a new anti-cancer drug have shown that it can reduce the blood supply to tumours, researchers said on Monday. Doctors who tested Combretastatin A4 on 17 severely ill cancer patients in Britain told a medical conference that it reduced the blood and oxygen that tumours need to survive and grow. ''This study is very exciting because it is the first time in cancer research that a drug has been shown to reduce blood flow to patients' tumours,'' said Dr Gordon Rustin, of Mount Vernon Hospital in Middlesex, southern England, a co-ordinator of the trial. ''This proves that the theory of starving someone's tumour of oxygen can work in practice and it has opened the door for new cancer treatments in the future,'' he added in a statement. Unlike conventional treatments that target the cancer cells, Combretastatin attacks the endothelial cells which line the blood vessels in the tumour. Scans of the patients in the trial showed the drug, which was given in weekly doses, significantly reduced the blood flow to the tumours. ''We're very pleased with the results because we've been able to prove the principle that Combretastatin is reducing the blood flow to tumours. It's really quite a dramatic change,'' Dr Lesley Walker, of The Cancer Research Campaign which is involved in the trial, told Reuters. She said it was too early to tell if the drug would be able to starve the tumour completely, but early results were encouraging. Every solid tumour has to establish a blood supply to survive so the drug could be used against a variety of cancers, either alone or in combination with other treatments. ''The major toxicity of the drug has been tumour pain. Although it may be unpleasant for patients it is a really encouraging sign that something is happening inside the tumour,'' she added. Animal tests of Combretastatin, a man-made derivative of the extract of the African Bush Willow, showed one dose of it could kill up to 95 percent of solid tumour cells by starving them of their blood supply. The British trial is one of three trials of the drug discovered by Professor Bob Petit, of Arizona State University. It is licensed to U.S.-Swedish company Oxigene (NasdaqNM:OXGN - news). Two other trials are being done in the United States. Rustin presented the preliminary results of the trial, which is continuing, to the Angiogenesis '99 medical conference in London. Final results will be available next year.