Clinical studies in the pipeline: the therapies of tomorrow in tr...(ully halted and the tumors decreased in ...),Health

OSI Pharmaceuticals, which also developed Tarceva, discovered OSI-906 in its research laboratory in Long Island, N.Y.

A phase I study of R1507, a human monoclonal antibody IGF-1R (insulin-like growth factor receptor) antagonist given weekly in patients with advanced solid tumors: Abstract A 78.

Targeting the receptor for insulin-like growth factor 1 has been a recent trend in cancer drug development. IGF-1 is one of most potent natural activators of the AKT and MAPK signaling pathways which promote cell growth and cell survival. Now, one of the first anti-IGF-1R agents to be tested in a Phase I clinical trial shows the drug to be safe, with few serious side effects and with early evidence of promising benefit in patients with sarcomas.

In a Phase I clinical trial of R1507, a human monoclonal antibody, administered weekly by intravenous infusion, nine of 34 adult patients with advanced solid tumors experienced a period of stable disease, and the seven heavily pretreated patients who remain on study all have sarcomas and show shrinkage or continued lack of growth of their tumors. Four of these patients have Ewings sarcoma, a rare cancer usually found in children or young adults. These results have led to follow-up studies testing the agent in both pediatric patients and in adults with sarcoma. This study is sponsored by Roche.

For these patients to have control of their disease implies significant activity, but because the number of patients studied is so small, it is impossible to draw significant statistical conclusions, says one of the studys lead investigators, Stephen Leong, M.D., assistant professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

This drug and others like it that attack the IGF pathway may provide a new class of drugs to treat a variety of cancers, including breast, prostate, colon, mel
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