SuperGen of San Ramon, Calif., presented data at the ASH meeting from two
trials suggesting that Nipent (pentostatin), approved for hairy-cell leukemia,
can relieve graft-vs.-host disease. In a phase-1 trial at Johns Hopkins, five of
12 patients with GvHD given Nipent as salvage therapy had a complete response
and four patients had a partial. The
company expects to start a phase-3 trial early next year. At Tufts, 13 BMT
patients given Nipent before the procedure in a phase-1 trial had higher than
usual rates of engraftment and 100% donor hematopoiesis. High-risk patients had
no peritransplant mortality.
