First Test Pass for New Cancer ‘Wonderdrug

A POTENTIAL cancer wonderdrug that may be able to tackle a host of different diseases has passed its first clinical test.

Preliminary results from an early patient trial indicate that the drug is hitting its targets.

Scientists hope the drug, known as 17AAG, can be used to attack cancer cells on numerous fronts.

Because it affects many different tumour-forming mechanisms at once, it raises the possibility for the first time of fighting a multitude of cancers with a single drug treatment.

If further trials live up to expectations, 17AAG could be used against breast, prostate, bowel, kidney, ovarian and skin cancer, as well as many others. The drug targets a so-called ‘chaperone’ molecule called Hsp90 that helps maintain the structure and function of a wide range of proteins.

Some of these are vital for the growth of cancers By deactivating Hsp90, the drug simultaneously sabotages many other molecules critical to cancer.

The Phase One trial involved 30 patients with a range of cancers and was only designed to confirm that the drug worked at a biochemical level. However, during the trial, the condition of two patients with skin cancer that had not responded to other drugs stabilised.

Their improvement might have occurred anyway, but taken together with other findings it is seen as early evidence that 17AAG can combat resistant cancers.

The trial was funded by Cancer Research UK