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news.Synta Pharmaceuticals' STA-9584, a new vascular disrupting agent (VDA) currently in pre-clinical development, has received recommendation from the Department of Defense (DoD) to be funded for study in advanced prostate cancer.
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Under the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) of the Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), STA-9584 is approved for funding of approximately $1m subject to final negotiations.
Synta Pharma president and CEO Safi Bahcall said that the grant from the DoD is a validation of STA-9584.
"This funding will support the development of STA-9584 to clinical development, a major step forward for the Vascular Disrupting Agent (VDA) program at Synta," Bahcall said.
"The drug candidate’s characteristics suggest that STA-9584 has the potential to provide a new therapeutic option for treating advanced prostate cancer."
Synta Drug Disposition and Preclinical Safety vice-president Andrew Sonderfan said that in preclinical models, STA-9584 efficiently kills both cancer cells in tumors as well as the endothelial cells that form blood vessels in tumors, without affecting the vasculature of non-tumor tissues.