Private MD News

Clinical testing of new cancer drug a success, according to study

Category: Cancer Detection and Tumor Markers

Recent phase 2 testing of the drug known as ASA404, or vadimezan, has shown significant promise in patients suffering from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Vadimezan is an anti-angiogenesis agent that contains a mechanism which chokes off a tumor's blood supply. It is designed to benefit patients with either squamous or non-squamous NSCLC.

There currently are other anti-angiogenesis drugs on the market, but they are commonly associated with side-effects such as interference with the formation of new blood vessels.

"Standard chemotherapy is currently the mainstay of treatment for patients with squamous NSCLC," said lead researcher Mark McKeage.

"New targeted therapies and chemotherapies have been evaluated, but many show little promise as first-line treatments in patients with this type of cancer," he added.

In the study, McKeage and his colleagues found that the overall survival rate was significantly higher in patients treated with vadimezan compared to respondents undergoing chemotherapy alone.

Moreover, the testing of vadimezan did not show any adverse side-effects nor did it appear to increase toxicity levels in patients.