( all ofthese trials; patients remain o...)Cytokinetics Reports Additional Clinical Trials Data for Ispinesib,Health

The NCI has completed patient treatment in a Phase I clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of ispinesib on an alternative dosing schedule in patients with advanced solid tumors that have failed to respond to all standard therapies; data from this trial have already been reported. The NCI is continuing patient enrollment in a Phase I clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of ispinesib on an alternative dosing schedule in patients with relapsed or refractory acute leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis, or advanced myelodysplastic syndromes. Data from this trial are expected in 2007.

Background on Mitotic Kinesin Inhibitors

Since their introduction over 40 years ago, anti-mitotic drugs (taxanes and vinca alkaloids) have advanced the treatment of cancer and are commonly used for the treatment of several tumor types. However, these drugs have demonstrated limited treatment benefit against certain cancers. In addition, these drugs target tubulin, a cytoskeletal protein involved not only in mitosis and cell proliferation, but also in other important cellular functions. Inhibition of these other cellular functions produces dose-limiting toxicities such as peripheral neuropathy, an impairment of peripheral nervous system function. Neuropathies are thought to result when these drugs interfere with the dynamics of microtubule filaments that are responsible for the long-distance transport of important cellular components within nerve cells.

Mitotic kinesins are essential to mitosis, and, unlike tubulin, appear to have no role in other cellular functions. Cytokinetics believes that drugs that inhibit KSP and CENP-E and other mitotic kinesins may represent the next generation of anti-mitotic cancer drugs
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