For more information: Eileen Korey, Director of News Services University Hospitals of Cleveland 216-844-3825, [email protected]
New Cancer Drug Tested at University Hospitals of Cleveland Combretastatin Destroys Tumor-Feeding Blood Vessels
CLEVELAND: A cancer patient at the Ireland Cancer Center at University Hospitals of Cleveland is the first person in the world to be treated with a new class of drugs that targets and destroys cancer-feeding blood vessels.
Dorothy Frimel, 55, of Independence, was given the first dose of the drug, Combretastatin, by intravenous infusion on Monday (11-9) at the Ireland Cancer Center. Frimel, who has five children, was diagnosed in February 1998 with adenocarcinoma, a cancer with an unknown origin. Doctors found malignant tumors in her liver. She underwent two other forms of chemotherapy, which failed, before she volunteered for the Combretastatin study.
Scot C. Remick, M.D., program leader for developmental therapeutics at the Ireland Cancer Center and associate professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, described Combretastatin as a promising new option for cancer patients for whom other treatments failed.
``From studies on animals, we know that the drug appears to work in three ways,ÃÃ Remick said. ``Not only does it starve the blood supply to the tumor, but it also seems to kill cancer cells and to work as a radiation and chemotherapy sensitizer, increasing the benefits of these treatments in pre-clinical models."
The Ireland Cancer Center will test the drug in very small doses on about 20 cancer patients with solid tumors, including breast, lung, colon and liver cancer. Last week, the Food & Drug Administration approved Combretastatin for clinical trials.
Combretastatin is the first in a new class of drugs known as tumor vascular targeting agents. Some tumor vascular agents inhibit the growth of new blood vessels. But what sets Combretastatin apart from them is its ability to target and kill existing blood vessels. Lab tests on mice showed that Combretastatin destroyed 95 percent of a tumorÃs cancer cells within 24 hours. The drug, manufactured by Oxigene Inc., of Lund, Sweden, is derived from the African bush willow tree.
Additional studies on Combretastatin will begin at the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center, and Mount Vernon Hospital in Middlesex, England.
Phase 1 trials mark the first time the new drug is taken by humans. The objective is to establish that it is safe and can be tolerated by the human body. Such tests last several months to a year. They are followed by Phase 2 trials, which determine the drugÃs effectiveness, and Phase 3 trials, which are designed to demonstrate whether the new drug is more effective than treatments already available.
Patients with questions can call the Ireland Cancer Center Cancer Information Service at 216-844-5432.
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