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Endostatin, Inhibitor of Angiogenesis,
Appears Safe and Effective
In Phase I Studies Presented in Europe
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| The Washington Post, November 9, 2000. In more than 60 patients with refractory cancers, the anti-angiogenesis compound Endostatin (EntreMed Inc. Rockville, MD) appeared to be safe and somewhat effective, according to doctors presenting the first human data. The presentations were made at a November 9 meeting of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) in Amsterdam. A press release from Entremed has been web-posted, along with detailed findings of the Phase I study. |
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The advent of anti-angiogenesis drugs was widely heralded three years ago, when Dr. Judah Folkman of Harvard University, a long-time champion of the angiogenesis story, was the subject of a major article in the New York Times ("Folkman a Lonely Warrior"). Now, it appears that Professor Folkman’s ideas have been at least partially confirmed in man: inhibition of blood vessel supply to tumors can be of clinical benefit to people with cancer. The three Endostatin presentations in Amsterdam were made by teams from Dan Farber Cancer Center at Harvard University (Abstract 258), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Abstract 259), and The University of Wisconsin (Abstract 260). |
While none of the patients in above reports had prostate cancer, a positive effect of the angiogenesis-inhibitor thalidomide in men with prostate cancer was also presented at the EORTC meeting. Re-birth of the drug thalidomide as an anti-cancer agent was described
in an earlier News Report on this website ("Banned in '60s, Thalidomide Now Offers New Hope to CA Patients"). |
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