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Roche's Experimental Medicine Shows Promise in Resistant Tumors
An experimental medicine being developed by Roche Holding AG’s Genentech unit may help a common chemotherapy drug kill cancer cells that are otherwise resistant to treatment, a study found.
A combination of the compound, GDC-0941, and the doxorubicin chemotherapy drug slowed the growth of breast and ovarian tumors in mice, according to the study in Science Translational Medicine.
The Genentech medicine belongs to an emerging class of drugs that work by targeting a protein called PI3K, or Phosphoinositide-3 kinase. The protein has been linked to tumor growth and survival and has also been associated with resistance to standard therapies. Inhibiting PI3K with drugs may therefore help overcome resistance to chemotherapies, the researchers said. The medicine is in the first of three stages of clinical testing needed for regulatory approval.
“The combination of doxorubicin with GDC-0941 caused significant tumor growth inhibition that was greater than what was observed with either agent alone,” Jeffrey Wallin, a researcher at Genentech and the study’s lead investigator, said in the study.
Other companies working on the same approach include Exelixis Inc., a biotechnology company based in South San Francisco. The Exelixis drug extended the amount of time patients with aggressive brain tumors lived without their disease worsening in another study.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dermot Doherty in Geneva at ddoherty9@bloomberg.net
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