Pharmaceutical Business review

Provectus set to receives patent for anticancer agent

Provecta is a small molecule, tumor-specific agent designed to treat melanoma, breast cancer, liver cancer and other potentially deadly cancers while sparing healthy tissue. Provectus expects to begin enrolling patients with metastatic melanoma and recurrent breast tumors in phase I clinical trials of Provecta soon.

“This patent will cover potentially important uses of Provecta for treatment of deep tissue and metastatic cancers,” noted Dr Craig Dees, Provectus CEO and co-inventor. “In preclinical studies, we’ve shown that Provecta can be used as a radiosensitizer, dramatically enhancing the effectiveness of conventional radiation therapy. Along with its use alone, without radiation for direct ablation of tumors, we believe Provecta may prove to be a very versatile oncology agent.”