(Taiwan) Promising new cancer drug ready for Phase III trials :: BiotechEast - Taiwan and China biotechnology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, ^¤å½s×, ^¤å×§ï ::

(BiotechEast staff)

18 October, 2008
TDW Pharmaceuticals, the Taiwanese subsidiary of the US-based Polaris Group of pharmaceutical companies, held a press conference in Taipei on Thursday to update local investors of its progress in developing a cancer drug for liver and cancer and metastatic melanoma.

"ADI-PEG 20 has better efficacy, and a better safety profile than Sorafenib [the only drug approved for liver cancer to date]," said Polaris Group CEO Wu Bor-wen.

The drug candidate, ADI-PEG 20, awaiting Phase III clinical trials, also has potential as a therapy for pancreatic, prostrate and kidney cancers, according to Polaris Group scientists present at the event.

ADI-PEG 20 works in a different way to conventional cancer drugs, according to the company. A protein drug, the drug candidate breaks down arginine in human blood, an amino acid that cancer cells need to survice and keep growing. Other cancer drugs work on destroying the DNA of cancer cells, but such an approach requires targeted delivery methodologies, which can be complicated. ADI-PEG 20 on the other hand, requires just a once-a-week injection, and the drugs affect is on the blood, not on the cancer cells themselves. Normal cells will survive the condition of arginine deprivation because they can synthesize arginine within themselves, according to the company.

Phase III trials will require a patient pool of 600 in test centers in the US and Asia, with patent enrollment beginning mid 2009, with the drug expected on the market at the end of 2011. The company will need to raise at least US$5-7 million this year, and US$40-50 million in 2009 to cover the costs of the drug's development, according to Wu.

Polaris and TDW Pharmaceuticals, (the acronym apparently standing for "This Drug Works," according to Wu), is committed to the development of therapies for Asian-prevalent diseases, according to company executives, and with this focus has been successful in attracting investment from both local government and private sector VC funds.

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