AstraZeneca Presents Promising Results Obtained With Platinum Anti-Cancer Agent (ZD0473) Licenced From AnorMed
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ - AnorMED Inc. today announced that promising results for ZD0473, a new platinum based anti-cancer agent were presented at the 11th NCI-EORTC-AACR meeting in Amsterdam, Netherlands. ZD0473 is a new generation platinum agent designed to deliver an extended spectrum of activity and overcome resistance to currently approved platinum drugs. The drug is licensed on an exclusive worldwide basis to AstraZeneca PLC.
Platinum based drugs such as cisplatin and carboplatin are widely used in the treatment of solid tumors such as cancers of the lung, ovary and testes. Many of these tumors initially respond to platinum based therapy but, in most cases, the tumors become resistant and the disease recurs. ZD0473 was designed to overcome this resistance against platinum drugs and thereby provide an extended spectrum of anti-cancer activity, with an improved safety profile than other platinum agents. To date there has been no evidence of clinically relevant neurotoxicity (nerve) or nephrotoxicity (kidney) from ZD0473. Dr. Mark Smith, Global Product Director for ZD0473 at AstraZeneca, said, ``The evidence is building that ZD0473 will represent an important new advance in cancer treatment. The presentations made in Amsterdam reflect that.''
At the conference, Phase I combination data for ZD0473 was presented for the first time as well as new data on the evidence of activity of ZD0473 in oxaliplatin resistant cell lines.
Dr. D. Anthoney and colleagues have studied ZD0473 in a range of doses (60, 90, and 120 mg/m(2)), in combination with paclitaxel (135 mg/m(2)) in a number of refractory advanced solid tumor types. To date, 11 patients have received 32 courses of treatment (paclitaxel 3 hour infusion followed by ZD0473 1 hour infusion 30 minutes later on day 1 of each 21 day cycle). The fourth dose level of the study is ongoing, with ZD0473 at 120mg/m(2) and paclitaxel at 150 mg/m(2). The results indicate that the main toxicity observed is hematological, although this toxicity is short-lived and has not been dose limiting, no significant nephrotoxicity of neurotoxicity was reported. To date, although no clinical responses have been seen in this study, 5 patients have shown disease stabilization. These encouraging results were further confirmed by a Phase I study from Dr. J. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Centre in Philadelphia, US. In his study, Dr. Stevenson combined ZD0473 treatment with gemcitabine in 13 patients with advanced pre-treated solid malignancies and found no evidence of nephrotoxicity or neurotoxicity, the main side effects reported being hematological. To date, 6 of the 8 evaluable patients in the study have gained clinical benefit from the treatment - this promising early evidence of anti- tumor activity being observed in both platinum and gemcitabine pre-treated patients.
In addition to the studies mentioned above, AstraZeneca are pursuing numerous Phase II monotherapy trials with ZD0473 in a variety of indications including non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, mesothelioma, hormone resistant prostate cancer, ovarian, breast, cervical and bladder cancers. Preliminary results from these trials are anticipated by mid-2001.
``We are very encouraged by these new results and by the scope of AstraZeneca's development effort for ZD0473,'' said Dr. Michael J. Abrams, President and Chief Executive Officer of AnorMED.
AnorMED is an emerging drug discovery and development company with expertise in coordination chemistry; the science of how metal atoms interact with molecules and ions in the body. AnorMED combines this expertise with its knowledge of medicinal chemistry to develop novel small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of life threatening diseases including cancer and HIV.
SOURCE: AnorMED Inc.
November 10, 2000
** POSTED NOVEMBER 13, 2000 **