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| | | Foreman Foundation | posted: 1/1/2008 |
| | | | Foreman Foundation Supports Early Phase Clinical Trial | | Hershey, PA |  | | Paul Mosca, M.D., Ph.D. | | | An early phase I clinical trial that targets advanced-stage melanoma opened in March 2007 at the Penn State Cancer Institute after obtaining FDA approval. The trial, which uses the immune modulator CADI-05, is part of the Penn State Melanoma Therapeutic Program’s commitment to turning cancer research into effective therapy for patients.
“Our hope is that as agents such as CADI-05 are approved by the FDA, we’ll be able to block different regulatory pathways that will cause melanomas to die,” says surgical oncologist Paul Mosca, M.D., Ph.D., who directs the clinical component of the Melanoma Therapeutics Program, which is led by Foreman Foundation Lead Investigator Gavin Robertson, Ph.D. “If we can find the right combination of immune modulator, targeted therapeutics and delivery vehicle for getting the drugs into melanoma cells, the drugs will effectively kill the tumors.”
Because CADI-05 is administered through the skin at a local injection site, there are no life-threatening toxicity risks for the patient. According to Mosca, “CADI-05 may even improve side effects from chemotherapy.”
“While it is essential to identify gene targets and develop drugs, which is occurring the Melanoma Therapeutics Program, it is equally important to develop innovative new vehicles, such as nanoliposomes and siRNA, for delivering those drugs,” Mosca says. “Having the right kind of delivery vehicle makes the drug more effective, with less toxicity.”
“Our Melanoma Therapeutics Program is becoming a prototype for achieving National Cancer Institute goals,” Mosca says. “It’s exciting to be part of a powerful group that is helping to lead the way in finding improved melanoma treatments that will eventually lead to a cure for this disease.”
“Support from the Foreman Foundation for Melanoma Research has been critical in bringing these discoveries from the research bench to the patient’s bedside,” Robertson says. “New genes causing melanoma are being identified, new drugs being developed and novel approaches to get the drugs into the cancer cell with fewer side effects. The Foundation, through its support of the Melanoma Therapeutics Program, is contributing to all these exciting discoveries”
| | | | Gavin P. Robertson, Ph.D. - Director, Foreman Foundation Research Laboratory |
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There is currently breakthrough information.
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