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GHSU preps for Provenge cancer treatment clinical trial
Atlanta Business Chronicle by Urvaksh Karkaria, Staff Writer
Date: Wednesday, December 5, 2012, 4:31pm EST
Urvaksh Karkaria Staff Writer-
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Health Sciences University is recruiting patients for a clinical trial that aims to improve survival rates of the FDA-approved prostate cancer drug Provenge.
Provenge is manufactured by Seattle-based Dendreon Corp. The company opened a 155,000 square plant in Union City in Augist 2011 to make Provenge.
The trial, led by GHSU Cancer Center Director Samir N. Khleif, is the first in the country to investigate prostate cancer treatment combining Provenge with two other cancer-fighting drugs, CT-011 and cyclophosphamide, according to a statement from GHSU.
Provenge, immunotherapy treatment, has been found to extend life expectancy of certain men with advanced prostate cancer by nearly 20 percent.
Provenge works by training the body’s immune system to find and attack prostate cancer cells. Khleif’s trial hopes to boost Provenge’s effectiveness by combining it with two other drugs: CT-011, a type of antibody that reverses immune suppression caused by cancer, and cyclophosphamide, which in a low dose enhances the effect of Provenge and CT-011.
Both have been safely used alone or in combination with other cancer therapies, but never for prostate cancer.
Preclinical animal studies in Khleif’s lab found that the combination of Provenge with these two other drugs led to a significant increase in survival and complete tumor regression in more than 50 percent of mice.
Based on these results, Dendreon and Khleif are collaborating on this first in human trial.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men in most Western countries.
GHSU preps for Provenge cancer treatment clinical trial
Atlanta Business Chronicle by Urvaksh Karkaria, Staff Writer
Date: Wednesday, December 5, 2012, 4:31pm EST
Urvaksh Karkaria Staff Writer-
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Health Sciences University is recruiting patients for a clinical trial that aims to improve survival rates of the FDA-approved prostate cancer drug Provenge.
Provenge is manufactured by Seattle-based Dendreon Corp. The company opened a 155,000 square plant in Union City in Augist 2011 to make Provenge.
The trial, led by GHSU Cancer Center Director Samir N. Khleif, is the first in the country to investigate prostate cancer treatment combining Provenge with two other cancer-fighting drugs, CT-011 and cyclophosphamide, according to a statement from GHSU.
Provenge, immunotherapy treatment, has been found to extend life expectancy of certain men with advanced prostate cancer by nearly 20 percent.
Provenge works by training the body’s immune system to find and attack prostate cancer cells. Khleif’s trial hopes to boost Provenge’s effectiveness by combining it with two other drugs: CT-011, a type of antibody that reverses immune suppression caused by cancer, and cyclophosphamide, which in a low dose enhances the effect of Provenge and CT-011.
Both have been safely used alone or in combination with other cancer therapies, but never for prostate cancer.
Preclinical animal studies in Khleif’s lab found that the combination of Provenge with these two other drugs led to a significant increase in survival and complete tumor regression in more than 50 percent of mice.
Based on these results, Dendreon and Khleif are collaborating on this first in human trial.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men in most Western countries.