This year will be a busy one for CytRx, a biopharmaceutical company with a focus on cancer treatment. CytRx’s pipeline includes three oncology drugs that have Phase II clinical studies planned for 2010. All told, the Los Angeles-based company could have six to eight trials running simultaneously in the coming months.
One therapeutic candidate, INNO-206, is a derivative of the chemotherapy drug doxirubicin. INNO-206 is designed to treat cancer by controlling drug release and specifically targeting tumors. In a Phase I clinical trial of 35 patients with various types of cancer, the drug partially reduced tumor size in 3 patients, and stabilized the disease in 20 patients over the course of the trial. As we reported in November, CytRx plans to initiate a Phase II clinial trial of INNO-206 to treat advanced soft tissue sarcoma, a form of cancer that originates in the muscles, fat, or other soft tissues of the body. Also this year, the company expects to start Phase II clinical trials for INNO-206 in patients with pancreatic cancer and gastric cancer.
Tamibarotene is CytRx’s drug candidate to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), a form of blood and bone marrow cancer. The drug has also demonstrated statistically significant results as a treatment for multiple myeloma. CytRx plans to initiate a Phase II clinical trial of tamibarotene combined with chemotherapy or arsenic trioxide as a first-line therapy for APL.
Lastly, the company is planning two Phase II proof-of-concept clinical trials for INNO-406. The first trial will evaluate the drug’s efficacy against high-risk B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The second trial will look at INNO-406 as as a treatment for glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive type of brain tumor.
Related video: CEO Steven Kriegsman, discusses the CytRx pipeline at the 2010 OneMedForum in San Francisco.