New Class of Drugs (anticancer agents)

[Guest guest]

Considering the number of investigators presenting preclinical and early

clinical data at this year’s AACR meeting, the cliché “from bench to bedside”

seems apropos for describing the new class of anticancer agents emanating from

basic research laboratories as well as new technologies being advanced by the

biotech industry. Thirty seven years after President Nixon declared war on

cancer, there finally appears to be a new class of drugs that may actually cure

cancer in the near future.

Genentech (www.gene.com) currently has a drug in the clinic that inhibits

Hedgehog signaling in neoplastic cells. Developed in collaboration with Curis

(www.curis.com), GDC-0449 is an orally bioavailable small molecule that

antagonizes the Smoothened receptor involved in the Hedgehog signaling pathway.

Drug developers are optimistic that this new class of cancer drugs will be more

effective in killing malignant cells and, more importantly, targeting quiescent

cancer stem cells that may become activated by current anticancer regimens.

http://tinyurl.com/4uzjoz7

FYI,

Lottie Duthu