BTG plc: Orphan Drug status granted for anticancer drug plevitrexed
Plevitrexed is a potent, selective thymidylate synthase inhibitor targeting gastric, pancreatic and ovarian cancers. In January 2007, the results of Phase I/II study to investigate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of plevitrexed in patients with advanced and/or metastatic gastric cancer were presented at the ASCO gastrointestinal cancers symposium. The overall efficacy of plevitrexed was in line with other single agent therapy and with that of the two-drug combination cisplatin plus 5-FU as reported in a recent study. The progression-free survival and median overall survival were similar for plevitrexed and for those reported in the cisplatin plus 5-FU combination study, but plevitrexed showed less toxicity and in particular less neutropenia. To date, plevitrexed has been investigated in more than 1,000 patients.
Most read news
Topics
Organizations
Other news from the department research and development
Get the life science industry in your inbox
From now on, don't miss a thing: Our newsletter for biotechnology, pharma and life sciences brings you up to date every Tuesday and Thursday. The latest industry news, product highlights and innovations - compact and easy to understand in your inbox. Researched by us so you don't have to.