The new site to join the phase I/IIa clinical trial of L-Annamycin is the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, a leading US cancer research center. The first patient at this site was enrolled on March 6, 2006 under the direction of Dr Meir Wetzler, the principal investigator at Roswell Park.
“The Roswell Park Cancer Institute is one of the nation’s preeminent institutions for the study of cancer, and we are very gratified that clinicians there will be helping to advance the clinical trial of L-Annamycin. This new clinical trial site provides an additional pool of potential patients for the present study,” said Dr Donald Picker, Callisto’s executive vice president of R&D.
In previous published animal studies, L-Annamycin has demonstrated that it can kill tumor cells that are resistant to other anthracycline anticancer drugs. In addition, earlier studies have shown that L-Annamycin may have other key advantages over other anthracycline drugs, including a decreased risk of treatment-related cardiomyopathy (inflammation of the heart muscle), a complication associated with this family of anticancer drugs.