• Staff writer, with CNA
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A new cancer drug under development could begin phase 1 testing in humans next year after it obtained good results in treating eight types of cancers in animal tests, the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) announced yesterday.

Hsieh Hsing-pang (謝興邦), a researcher at the NHRI’s Institute of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Research (IBPR), said at a media briefing that 40 late-stage cancer patients who have not been helped by any available treatment, but are still in decent physical condition, are to be recruited for phase 1 clinical trials next year.

The new drug, known as DBPR144, is a small molecule known as a multi-target kinase inhibitor, Hsieh said.
 

From left, National Health Research Institutes’ (NHRI) Institute of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Research (IBPR) Director Chang Jang-yang, Launxp Biomedical Co board member Ko Chun-pei and general manager Chen Chiu-heng, IBPR researcher Hsieh Hsing-pang and NHRI Chief Secretary Wu Hsiu-ying attend a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: CNA
 

A kinase is an enzyme that controls important cell functions, and it can be active in the growth of some types of cancer cells.

The eight types of cancers against which it showed success through in vivo studies in animals were pancreatic, oral, gastric, liver, bladder, prostate and colorectal cancer, as well as acute myeloid leukemia, Hsieh said.

“Because it is particularly effective in gastroenterology-related cancers, we are likely to first target patients with pancreatic, liver, bladder and gastric cancer in the initial clinical trial,” he said.

Multi-target drugs, which take aim at several targets rather than more common medications that only target a single biological substance, more effectively inhibit cancer cell proliferation and overcome drug resistance, he said.

During the phase 1 trial, the volunteers are to be given DBPR114 once a week to determine safe dosages of the drug, Hsieh said.

Chen Chiu-heng (陳丘泓), general manager of Launxp Biomedical Co, which will be responsible for manufacturing the drug, said cancer patients from Taiwan and Australia are to be recruited to take part in the initial trial, which is expected to take two years.

Phase 2 and phase 3 trials, which should each take two to three years, will focus on cancers that responded promisingly to the drug in phase 1.

At least six years will be needed to complete human trials, Chen said.

“This novel, multi-targeted agent is our new hope for treating cancer patients,” IBPR Director Chang Jang-yang (張俊彥) said.

Cancer has been the top cause of death in Taiwan for 41 years, he said, and the five-year survival rates among patients with major types of cancer remained low, especially the 5 percent rate for people with pancreatic cancer.