Too Fast To Market?

Italian researchers report an examination of cancer related clinical trials finds that an increasing number of trials are halted early  - at the first signs of positive results - to get the drugs to patients before the risk and benefits of the drugs are fully understood. The findings were published online April 9 in the Annals of Oncology. Read more about the report here.

In The Lab

Chemotherapy drugs are often usually used in combination to attack cancer cells from different paths of vulnerability and prevent damaged cells from repairing themselves. Determining how much of each drug to give a patient is usually focused on maximizing the dose without killing the patient. North Carolina researchers argue a new approach is needed in building combo therapies that seeks to identify the most effective drug-to-drug ratio. David Adams of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center gives two examples: He’s been studying the DNA repair limiting agent CP-4055 in combination with gemcitabine or with topotecan. A CP-4055/gemcitabine combo does its best anti-cancer magic at a ratio of 400 parts CP-4055 to one part gemcitabine. In the case of CP-4055 and topotecan “we found that there was a fine line between drug ratios that produced anti-tumor activity and cancelled out anti-tumor activity." Read more about the work here.