New oral taxane in combination therapy could be more tolerable and effective
Italian company Indena presented recent research data at the Symposium on "Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics", held in Frankfurt, 19th-22nd November, 2002, under the auspices of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
Indena’s research team focused on three preclinical studies of their new experimental molecule IDN 5390, which belongs to the class of taxanes, already noted for the development of important chemotherapy drugs such as paclitaxel.
The new molecule had already demonstrated a promising profile of low toxicity in earlier studies. That IDN 5390 could be administered orally and selectively inhibited angiogenesis suggested it might be less invasive than chemotherapy drugs currently in use.
The latest in vitro and in vivo studies looked at a combination of IDN 5390 with paclitaxel. Results presented at Frankfurt found this combination increased the efficacy of treatment, with no increase in toxicity. This opens up the possibility of ’metronomic’ chemotherapy with IDN 5390, which put simply means smaller and less toxic doses over a longer treatment time.
"The possibility of combining an oral taxane, targeting both cancer cells and tumour vessels, with chemotherapy drugs currently in use, opens the way to an additional therapeutic strategy, in accordance with current guidelines discussed during this important international symposium", states Dr Antonella Riva, senior researcher at Indena.
This work is the result of a collaboration between Italian and American institutes such as Rome’s Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo and New York’s Stony Brook University.
The results of these studies are yet further proof of the successes obtained by Indena research into cancer therapies derived from the Yew Tree. The Italian company has made possible the manufacture of paclitaxel on an industrial scale and is today recognised by the American FDA as one of the major producers.
Indena’s recently discovered anti-cancer molecule IDN 5109 led to a new licensing agreement with Bayer. "These studies confirm a commitment which we intend to maintain," comments Chief Executive Dario Bonacorsi. "Emphasis is firmly placed on research into new active principles for the cancer therapies which can then be licensed to large drug companies."
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Keywords : Indena Italy Oncology EORTC Taxanes Paclitaxel New molecule IDN 5390 Preclinical trial Combination Metronomic chemotherapy
