A new cancer drug under development could begin phase 1 testing in humans next year after it obtained good results in treating eight types of cancers in animal tests, the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) announced yesterday.
Hsieh Hsing-pang (謝興邦), a researcher at the NHRI’s Institute of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Research (IBPR), said at a media briefing that 40 late-stage cancer patients who have not been helped by any available treatment, but are still in decent physical condition, are to be recruited for phase 1 clinical trials next year.
The new drug, known as DBPR144, is a small molecule known as a multi-target kinase inhibitor, Hsieh said.
Photo: CNA
A kinase is an enzyme that controls important cell functions, and it can be active in the growth of some types of cancer cells.
The eight types of cancers against which it showed success through in vivo studies in animals were pancreatic, oral, gastric, liver, bladder, prostate and colorectal cancer, as well as acute myeloid leukemia, Hsieh said.
“Because it is particularly effective in gastroenterology-related cancers, we are likely to first target patients with pancreatic, liver, bladder and gastric cancer in the initial clinical trial,” he said.
Multi-target drugs, which take aim at several targets rather than more common medications that only target a single biological substance, more effectively inhibit cancer cell proliferation and overcome drug resistance, he said.
During the phase 1 trial, the volunteers are to be given DBPR114 once a week to determine safe dosages of the drug, Hsieh said.
Chen Chiu-heng (陳丘泓), general manager of Launxp Biomedical Co, which will be responsible for manufacturing the drug, said cancer patients from Taiwan and Australia are to be recruited to take part in the initial trial, which is expected to take two years.
Phase 2 and phase 3 trials, which should each take two to three years, will focus on cancers that responded promisingly to the drug in phase 1.
At least six years will be needed to complete human trials, Chen said.
“This novel, multi-targeted agent is our new hope for treating cancer patients,” IBPR Director Chang Jang-yang (張俊彥) said.
Cancer has been the top cause of death in Taiwan for 41 years, he said, and the five-year survival rates among patients with major types of cancer remained low, especially the 5 percent rate for people with pancreatic cancer.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS