Lorus study shows GTI-2040 in a combination therapy can reduce prostate-specific antigen to help fight prostate cancer

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Nov. 15 - Lorus Therapeutics Inc. said that interim results of a clinical trial of GTI-2040 in combination with docetaxel and prednisone in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer showed a reduction or stabilization in prostate-specific antigen, which is used to assess disease progression and response.

The study, which was published this week in abstract in the meeting book of the International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, reported that in 22 patients evaluable for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), there were nine reductions of greater than 50%, seven disease stabilizations and one disease progression. The regimen was antisense therapy targeting the R2 component of ribonucleotide reductase combined with docetaxel and prednisone, according to a company news release. The study is ongoing and evaluations are continuing, officials said.

A National Cancer Institute steering committee also reviewed the interim findings and said that eight of 18 evaluable patients had a PSA response, which meets the protocol defined efficacy criterion required for extending enrollment, officials said.

Hormone-refractory prostate cancer has a dismal median survival rate of 18 months despite initial responses to chemotherapy, so there is a need for novel combination therapies, Lorus officials said.

"This promising study in prostate cancer is one of six ongoing clinical investigations with GTI-2040 in various tumor indications sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program under a Clinical

Trials Agreement with Lorus for the development of GTI-2040," Dr. Jim Wright, Lorus chief executive officer, said in the release.

"This program is very important because it provides Lorus with the advantage of selecting the most promising opportunities for development," Wright added.

Toronto-based Lorus is a biopharmaceutical company focused on development and commercialization of cancer therapies.

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