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Angiogenesis Inhibitor Combrestatin, by
OXiGENE, Begins PHASE I Clinical Trials 11/11/98
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Inhibitors in Clinical Trials - List of Drugs and Contact
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Press
Release: Tumor Vascular Targeting
Agent Attacks Cancer-Specific Blood Vessels Formed by
Angiogenesis
Boston, Massachusetts, November 11, 1998 - Addressing the ABN
AMRO Health Care Conference in New York, Björn Nordenvall, M.D.,
Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of OXiGENE,
(Nasdaq:OXGN; SSE:OXGN) announced today that the Company has
begun treating the first patient in a U.S. Phase I clinical trial
of Combretastatin A-4 Prodrug for the treatment of solid tumors.
In addition, the Company announced plans to initiate a second
Phase I study with Combretastatin in the U.S. later this year and
the British charity, Cancer Research Campaign, is commencing a
third Phase I study in the U.K. OXiGENE’s clinical trials of
Combretastatin will evaluate three different dosing regimens, as
well as the safety, pharmacokinetics, reduction of tumor blood
flow and maximum tolerated dose of Combretastatin in humans.
Combretastatin is believed to be the first in a new class of
drugs known as tumor vascular targeting agents, which selectively
targets and destroys cancer-specific blood vessels formed by
angiogenesis.
"More than 90 percent of all cancers are solid tumors,
and most rely on the blood supply to survive and grow," said
Scot Remick, M.D., Program Leader, Developmental Therapeutics
Division of Hematology and Oncology, Ireland Cancer Center at
University Hospitals of Cleveland and Associate Professor of
Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. "In preclinical
studies, Combretastatin demonstrated potency as a stand-alone
therapy, and increased potency in combination with other agents
in destroying tumor vasculature. These trials represent the first
opportunity to assess the use of this promising new compound in
humans."
"The development of Combretastatin is in line with the
Company’s overall strategy to discover new products that
will enhance the effectiveness of conventional cancer
therapies," said Dr. Nordenvall. "Initial data from the
Phase I trials will determine the safety of Combretastatin as a
stand-alone therapy and will frame the design of future trials
which will evaluate Combretastatin in combination with other
cancer treatments."
Tumor vascular targeting and angiogenesis inhibition are
related but distinct cancer therapies, which radically depart
from conventional approaches to treating cancer. Certain new
drugs in this class of compounds target a tumor’s life
support system, the network of newly emerging blood vessels,
while leaving blood vessels associated with normal tissue
unaffected. A process called angiogenesis, which is the growth of
new blood vessels from previously existing ones, forms the
tumor-specific blood vessels. Combretastatin differs from
anti-angiogenesis drugs in that Combretastatin destroys existing
blood vessels in tumors, whereas anti-angiogenesis drugs inhibit
the growth of new blood vessels in tumors.
Combretastatin is being developed as a drug that could
potentially be used in combination with chemotherapy and
radiation to enhance the effectiveness of these traditional
cancer treatments. In animal studies, Combretastatin was shown to
selectively attack and destroy existing tumor vasculature,
creating a rapid and irreversible shutdown of the tumors’
blood vessels. In one such study, published in Cancer Research,
v. 57:1829 (May 1997) researchers found that a single dose of
Combretastatin reduced tumor blood flow in mice by 93 percent.
Twenty-four hours after injection with Combretastatin, 95 percent
of the cancer cells were dead as a result of being deprived of
oxygen and nutrients.
OXiGENE is an international biopharmaceutical company
developing a diverse portfolio of innovative products to combat
cancer and other major diseases. The Company’s mission is to
develop new therapeutics that will enhance the effectiveness of
traditional cancer treatments. OXiGENE has several product
candidates in clinical development, including a second-generation
DNA repair inhibitor Neu-Sensamide‘, in Phase III clinical
trials in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and a Phase I
study in patients with glioblastoma; a third-generation DNA
repair inhibitor Declopramide (previously OXi-104), in Phase I
studies in patients with advanced stage cancers; Combretastatin
A-4 Prodrug, a tumor vascular targeting agent for the treatment
of solid tumors, in Phase I studies in patients with advanced
stage cancers; and Cordycepin, in Phase I/II studies in patients
with TdT-positive leukemia.
SOURCE: OXiGENE
See also Angiogenesis
Inhibitors in Clinical Trials - List of Drugs and Contact
Information
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