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news.German company Schering AG has obtained promising clinical results from a phase I trial of its fully synthetic epothilone, ZK-EPO, in advanced solid tumors.
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The data indicate a favorable tolerability profile, with evidence of anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced disease.
In the phase I trial 52 patients with advanced solid tumors resistant or refractory to treatment were administered ZK-EPO as a 30-minute intravenous infusion once every three weeks.
Anti-tumor activity was observed by investigators and partial remissions were reported for two breast cancer patients that had previously been treated with a taxane. In addition, stable disease lasting up to 19 months was observed in 10 patients suffering from other types of cancer.
A new cancer drug could mean good news for Schering since its most promising treatment, PTK/ZK, failed to significantly improve prospects for patients with advanced colon cancer in a phase III trial, causing company shares to fall 2.8% in March.
Epothilone is a novel class of cytotoxic agents considered to have the potential to replace taxanes as a treatment option for various cancers. Prior to this study, ZK-EPO has shown greater activity in all human tumor cell lines examined compared with paclitaxel and other commonly used chemotherapies.