Boston-based biopharmaceutical company Point Therapeutics has achieved the desired tumor response criteria with its drug talabostat, in a phase II non-small cell lung cancer clinical trial.
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The trial evaluated the performance of talabostat in combination with docetaxel in patients with stage IIIb/IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have not responded to platinum-based therapy.
Dr Maggie Uprichard, senior vice president and chief development officer at Point was pleased by the results and their implications for future trials. She said: “I am very excited about the positive results we have seen in this study. These results allow us to move forward in planning our phase III pivotal program for NSCLC, which we intend to initiate later this year.”
Preclinical studies of the drug suggest that when given orally, talabostat can inhibit the growth of certain established tumors. It also appears that when used as an adjunct to chemicals present in chemotherapy it is more affective than chemotherapy or talabostat administered alone in rodent models.