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- Posted Wednesday September 21, 2011
TGen-Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center launches clinical trial for new investigational drug to treat non-small cell lung cancer, and other cancers
Researchers have high hopes for promising targeted cancer
therapy designed to block critical growth drivers in cancer
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Sept. 21, 2011 - Patients at Virginia G. Piper
Cancer Center Clinical Trials are the first in the nation to
participate in a clinical trial to determine the safety,
tolerability and preliminary activity of an investigational drug
that targets cell-signaling proteins associated with the most
common form of lung cancer, as well as other forms of cancer such
as lymphomas and neuroblastoma.
The first patient on the study was administered the first dose of
AP26113 at Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials, and the
trial is now enrolling additional patients.
AP26113, discovered and being developed by ARIAD Pharmaceuticals
Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) of Cambridge, Mass., is a small molecule cancer
therapy that targets the suppression of two oncogenes associated
with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): anaplastic lymphoma kinase
(ALK), and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Oncogenes are
those genes with the potential to cause cancer.
"AP26113 targets two oncogenes commonly cited in the lung cancer
literature in recent years, ALK and EGFR," said Dr. Glen Weiss, the
Principal Investigator for the clinical trial, a partnership of the
Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare and the
Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).
"We are the first site in the country to open a new clinical trial
with AP26113, which has exciting possibilities," Dr. Weiss said of
the Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials planned for the drug. The
Phase 1 study has just begun enrolling patients. By Phase 2, the
study could include more than 100 patients at 11 clinical trial
sites. "If AP26113 proves to be safe and effective, it could make a
positive difference for patients with NSCLC and other cancers
harboring ALK and EGFR abnormalities."
Dr. Weiss also is Director of Thoracic Oncology at Virginia G.
Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials, the partnership between TGen
and Scottsdale Healthcare that treats cancer patients with
promising new drugs.
And, Dr. Weiss is the new Chief Medical Officer of the Cancer
Research and Biostatistics-Clinical Trials Consortium (CRAB-CTC), a
Seattle-based cooperative research network, created by a group of
preeminent lung cancer investigators. It represents more than 10
institutes worldwide dedicated to funding and facilitating clinical
trials, thereby providing lung cancer patients with newly developed
therapeutics as quickly as possible.
"Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer should ask their
oncologists to have their tumors tested for EGFR mutation and ALK
abnormalities. Identifying mutations or abnormalities in
oncogenes associated with NSCLC can distinguish patients who are
more likely to benefit from a targeted therapy," Dr. Weiss said.
"NSCLC accounts for nearly 85 percent of all lung cancers. As many
as 7 percent of NSCLC patients will have the abnormal ALK gene, and
as many as 17 percent of patients with NSCLC in Western populations
are EGFR positive."
AP26113 is a unique dual inhibitor of ALK and EGFR. In May,
Pfizer filed its much-touted oncology agent crizotinib, a
first-generation ALK inibitor, with regulators in the U.S. and
Japan. On Aug. 26, through a fast-track process, the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration approved crizotinib, to be sold as Xalkori.
AP26113 is designed to overcome resistance to crizotinib and to an
EGFR inhibitor called erlotinib, sold as Tarceva and made by OSI
Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The formal name of the TGen-Scottsdale Healthcare study is:
Pharmacokinetics and Preliminary Anti-Tumor Activity of the Oral
ALK/EGFR Inhibitor AP26113.
Individuals seeking information about eligibility to participate in
clinical trials at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at
Scottsdale Healthcare may contact the cancer care coordinator at
480-323-1339; toll free at 1-877-273-3713 or via email at
[email protected].
About the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale
Healthcare
The Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare in
Scottsdale, Ariz. offers comprehensive cancer treatment and
research through Phase I clinical trials, diagnosis, treatment,
prevention and support services in collaboration with leading
scientific researchers and community oncologists. Scottsdale
Healthcare is the nonprofit parent organization of the Virginia G.
Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale Healthcare
Research Institute, Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center,
Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center and Scottsdale Healthcare
Thompson Peak Hospital. For more information, visit
www.shc.org.
Press Contact:
Jamie Houston
Public Relations Coordinator
Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center
480-323-1387
[email protected]
