MILAN – Once upon a time there was a chemotherapy (a cytokine) so powerful as to be toxic to humans and therefore unusable. Now, however, it can be used at a two-hundredth dose, and therefore harmless, coupled to a new intelligent molecule that takes it to the target which is the blood vessels of the tumor. And the disease is "suffocated" from the outset, or in any case in its development. The new anti-cancer drug is made in Italy. Is called Arenegyr and is the result of research by MolMed, the biotech company of San Raffaele in Milan. The trial is currently in phase II on two tumors: malignant pleural mesothelioma, asbestos-induced, and colorectal cancer. At the end of the year, authorization will be requested both in Europe and in the United States to move on to phase III: that of clinical trials on a large number of patients. But already the phase II data give researchers hope. To such an extent that they will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago which opens tomorrow. In particular, on 53 mesothelioma patients, the preliminary analysis "shows an improvement in overall survival - explains Claudio Bordignon, president of MolMed - and an almost doubled survival without disease progression compared to the data relating to the best available supportive care reported in the literature". For colorectal cancer, on the other hand, the preliminary analysis on 43 patients "shows a relative improvement in overall survival at six months equal to 50% compared to what is reported in the literature on the best supportive care". Bordignon concludes: «The preliminary results are so encouraging that they push us to carry on the complete clinical development of Arenegyr». Also for other tumors: liver and lung, for example. Mario Pappagallo
Corriere della Sera of 05/30/2008 ed. national p. 25
