Antisoma's 'magic bullet' cancer drug shows further promise
Thursday , December 11, 2003
One of Antisoma's lead products has been given a boost by new data showing its promise in treating lymphomas. The UK biotech company says the drug AS1406 produced improved survival rates in mice with lymphoma - a malignant tumour of the lymph nodes - and will now accelerate the drug into trials and expand the programme. The drug has already shown promise in treating solid tumours and works by combining cancer-targeting antibodies with enzymes able to trigger the cellular self-destruct pathway known as apoptosis. Antisoma chief executive officer Glyn Edwards said the drug, which has already shown promise in treating solid tumours had potential to become a genuine 'magic bullet'. "Targeted apoptosis is much closer to a magic bullet than most current cancer therapies. We are making good progress in preparing AS1406 for clinical trials and are delighted that work done at the NCI has demonstrated the potential for the drug in the multi-billion dollar lymphoma market." The pre-clinical trials were carried out by Professor Susanna Rybak at the United States National Cancer Institute under a Collaborative Research and Development Agreement with Antisoma. In one experiment mice with advanced lymphomas received AS1406 or a control for five days. The drug extended median survival from 33 to 59 days. Whereas all animals had died by day 34 in the control group, more than 20% of those receiving AS1406 were still alive when the experiment ended after 77 days. The company, which specialises in anti-cancer therapies, recently announced a £15.2 million share placing that, once completed, should allow it to acquire new products for its pipeline and pay for expanded development plans for some of its current products. Related articles Antisoma to launch cancer treatment by 2005 Tuesday , November 18, 2003
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