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| |  AACR-EORTC-NCI: Angiostatin Plus Radiation Produces Durable Partial Response In Variety Of Cancers By Ed Susman Special to DG News MIAMI BEACH, FL -- October 31, 2001-- Combining the experimental anti-angiogenesis drug angiostatin with radiation therapy produces no additional adverse effects but does result in all patients experiencing a partial response from a variety of cancers, researchers say. Fifteen patients who had previously been treated with hormones or chemotherapy and had seen their cancers progress, were given angiostatin plus up to 72 Gray radiation. The patients had lung cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, basal cell carcinomas, epitheloid hemangioendothelioma, rectal cancer and head and neck cancer. All showed clinical response if they were administered 15 mg of angiostatin intravenously or 30 mg of angiostatin. "This initial study is unique in that it is a Phase 1 combination study using radiation therapy and will allow the design of additional trials to demonstrate the effectiveness of this combination with or without the addition of chemotherapy," said Adam Dicker, MD, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiation oncology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. "I am encouraged that angiostatin in combination with radiation generated durable local responses with no added toxicity," said Dr. Dicker, clinical director of Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center, at the 12th annual joint meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the National Cancer Institute of the United States. "There was no comparator group in this study," pointed out co-author of the study, Dr. Carolyn Sidor, a medical monitor of the project for EntreMed, Rockville, Maryland, United States, the maker of angiostatin and sponsor of the clinical trial. "But when you have 15 of 15 patients showing a clinical response you figure something is going on." In the single-center, open-label dose-escalation Phase 1 clinical study, researchers were particularly interested in determining if the addition of angiostatin would result in more adverse side effects than historically expected with radiation therapy. Patients were treated for five to seven weeks with the combined therapy and then were observed for an additional six weeks. They were given angiostatin through an intravenous route five times a week in 10 minute infusions. The amount of the drug infused was determined by the patients' body surface area. The doctors determined that:
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