GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH Clinical trials for a new drug targeting ovarian and other cancers
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The ICR welcomes a collaboration that will take a new anti-cancer drug forward into clinical trials. The drug is expected to have real prospects as a targeted cancer agent, particularly in ovarian cancer.
Pharmaceutical company Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has been granted rights to take forward and commercialize the new drug ONX 0801 (formerly known as BGC 945). The drug was discovered at the ICR in collaboration with life sciences company BTG plc.
ONX 0801 kills cells by preventing an enzyme called thymidylate synthase from working. This enzyme is necessary for DNA synthesis and cell division. The drug targets tumor cells and enters them in a novel way, via folate receptors. It therefore creates a new class of tumor-targeted anti-folate drugs. Accessible and functional folate receptors are present in much higher numbers in ovarian and lung tumors, endometrial cancers and mesothelioma (a cancer of the lining of the lungs, caused by asbestos exposure), than in normal tissues. These folate receptors act as "trojan horses" delivering their cargo of ONX 0801 selectively into tumor cells.
Professor Ann Jackman, Professor of Biochemical Pharmacology, led the ICR team that discovered the drug. It was developed jointly by the Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics, where Dr. Vassilios Bavetsias was responsible for the medicinal chemistry, and the Section of Medicine.
A big advantage of this drug is that it has little effect on normal cells. Professor Jackman explains; "This drug is enthusiastically absorbed by the tumor cells, killing them, while healthy cells appear to interact far less with the drug."
The Drug Development Unit at the ICR and The Royal Marsden will perform the first Phase I study of the drug in 2009. These are the first stage trials in the life of a new drug or treatment. ONX 0801 will be trialled on a small number of people to see how the body responds to it, and to assess side effects and safe dose ranges.
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