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To: beat the market who wrote (1934)	5/7/1998 9:27:00 AM
From: P.E. Allen	Respond to of 25711

Thursday May 7, 2:22 am Eastern Time UCLA researchers test new cancer drug on humans By Mark Egan LOS ANGELES, May 6 (Reuters) - A potential treatment for cancer that kills tumors by starving them of their blood supply is being tested on humans by doctors at the University of California here. The drug has been in Phase I trials on 30 patients at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles since September of last year. Called SU5416, the drug developed by Redwood City, California-based Sugen Inc (SUGN - news). is an angiogenesis inhibitor, which like other recently publicized treatments, completely wiped out tumors in mice. Competing angiogenesis inhibitor drugs from EntreMed Inc (ENMD - news)., angiostatin and endostatin, received wide-spread media coverage in recent days when it was revealed the drugs had killed tumors in mice. While those drugs are at least a year away from being tested on humans, doctors at UCLA are already encouraged by early trials of SU5416 on humans. ''We are very excited about this experimental treatment,'' said UCLA's Dr. Lee Rosen. ''In the lab, SU5416 made all kinds of tumors shrink or die, no matter where in the body they were. We're hoping for exactly the same results in humans,'' he said. SU5416 and the EntreMed drugs are just two of the new treatments for cancer being tested. More than 300 new therapies are currently being tested, ranging from drugs that directly target tumors, to vaccines that turn the body's defenses against tumors, to gene therapy that aims to stop cancer at the most basic level. SU5416 is a chemical that kills tumors by stopping the growth of new blood vessels to a tumor. Since cancer cells divide much faster than other cells in the body, they need more nourishment from blood to stay alive. By blocking that blood supply the cancerous tumor dies. The process of growing arteries is called angiogenesis, so the drugs are known as angiogenesis inhibitors. ''This drug made tumors disappear in mice and we're very hopeful, but it's very far away from being the miracle cure for human cancers,'' Rosen said. Rosen said the New York Times article published on Sunday about EntreMed's angiogenesis inhibitors unfairly painted those drugs as a miracle cure. ''The fact that (angiostatin and endostatin) were reported as a miracle cure and we're going to cure cancer in the next couple of years was a tremendous overstatement,'' Rosen said. ''It did a terrible disservice to patients and their families.'' Phase I trials, such as UCLA's trial of SU5416, are aimed at determining dosage, side affects and a schedule for treatment. Subsequent Phase II and Phase III trials study how effective the drug is at treating cancer. ''I'm very encouraged. We are beginning to see things that are clinically meaningful but we're not curing cancer right and left yet,'' Rosen said of the Phase I trial, adding that side-effects so far were minimal. ''I'm very hopeful that this will be an advance in the treatment of all cancers,'' he said. At this early stage, however, Rosen cautioned that the drug may not be as effective as early trials suggest -- like many other cancer treatments that have failed to prove effective. ''It's too early to tell about any of the (angiogenesis inhibitor) drugs in this class,'' he said. Rosen said patients should be wary of studies that talk of curing cancer in mice, which are much easier to treat than humans. ''Mice have shorter lives so you can see results very quickly,'' he said. ''You start with mice because it's better to kill mice than humans. (SEGNO) ( ------------------------------------------------------------------------ More Quotes and News: Entremed Inc (Nasdaq:ENMD - news)Sugen Inc (Nasdaq:SUGN - news) Related News Categories: health